


Of Butterflies and Blood

by AddedOC



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, Other, Psychological Drama, Romance, Teenage Drama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-26
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-03-24 12:25:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13811151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AddedOC/pseuds/AddedOC
Summary: "Emily, this is Edward and Alphonse Elric. They will be joining us on our trip to Central." Jean Havoc introduced them through his new cigarette that he was busy lighting with a fancy looking lighter."H-hi Emily, nice to make your acquaintance." The armored man held out a hand to her and she watched as it shook slightly, "My name is Alphonse Elric.""Nice to meet you Alphonse." she said with a forced smile as she reached to accept his hand."Why are you being so formal and stiff! You just had a terrible thing happen to you, you can at least cry." The blonde who she assumed was Edward Elric jumped between them quickly, stopping the polite shake before their hands touched, "Come on we have to get to central before Winry." he muttered as he shot a glare at Alphonse.





	1. Chapter 1, Childhood Trauma:

Louis Hagraven smiled as he waved goodbye to his last patient of the day. His wife, Sarah Hagraven, was behind him cleaning up the room they had used to look over the young lady. When she was out of sight he let out a long tired sigh and sank into his chair, his hand going up to wipe his eyes as his shoulders slumped. Sarah rushed to his side and rested her hands on his shoulders gently as he grumbled to himself absently. Her own smile had slipped into a thin line of worry as she studied her husbands face. As of late, many strange afflictions had found their way onto and sometimes into their patients. They had found it harder and harder to find the correct alchemical circle that was needed to heal what troubled the ones who found their way into the small clinic the two ran out of their home.

"I need to get in contact with the Major. This all seems too coincidental." He looked up to her as he spoke and she nodded slowly in return.

"Emily will be back from her friends house soon, I will distract her so she isn't snooping into your lab while you speak with him." She moved away from him then and pulled her lab coat off to hang it on a waiting hook. The couple did not need to converse anymore about what they planned to do, they had been together long enough that it was simply second nature to them; making plans amongst themselves without having to speak a word. Sarah moved out of the small garage that they used as a clinic and into the kitchen where she prepared their daughter a light snack. Louis moved to the phone that rested on the wall of the clinic and pulled a worn piece of paper from where it had been tacked to the wall. The number he dialed met with a deadline tone that caused his brows to furrow in worry.

When he heard the front door open and shut he let out a slow calming breath and placed the phone back on it's holder. His daughter was home, he was sure, and he had to make it seem like nothing was wrong or risk the ever curious Emily snooping through his office and possibly finding his more dangerous yet needed journals. He straightened his own lab coat and moved to the door separating his home from the clinic. With one final calming breath, he firmly placed a smile upon his lips and stepped into his living room where his wife was fussing over their daughter.

Emily Hagraven was a rambunctious girl, she had been something of a wild child when she was younger and aging to sixteen had not taken that away from her. So It did not surprise her father at all when he saw his wife working herself into a fit over a large cut on the silver eyed girls cheek. He simply chuckled and pulled his wife away before she grew too overwhelmed with her worries about their girls safety and hurt herself.

"This doesn't look too bad." He hummed as he took her chin in his hand and turned her head to better view her cheek. "We could just put a plaster on it but I think that may leave a scar."

"Oh honey just use the array on her." Sarah grumbled as she adjusted her shirt before holding her chest with a pain filled look in her eye.

"Alright, alright." He pulled a thick pen from his pocket and carefully etched a simple mending array on Emily's cheek. A moment later both he and his wife were smiling as the cut sealed itself before their very eyes. Emily was handed a wet rag by her mother, which she used to quickly wipe away the array just as she had many before. They fell into the usual daily activities; Emily ate her snack while reading through the books her mother had laid out for her to prepare her for her homeschool hours the next day, Louis moved on to his office to add the discovery from that day to his journals and mull over possible solutions, and Sarah settled on their couch to finish up her patchwork quilt that she had worked on for months at that point. They were a simple Amestris family, as simple as one could be with a medical alchemist father and mother with a daughter who showed no talent for alchemy at all.

Emily was shooed off to ready herself for dinner a few short hours after she finished her snack. She stopped outside of her father's office and frowned at the sight she was met with. He was slumped over piles of paperwork with his head in his hands and his shoulders slumped in defeat. She had spotted him in this posture an increasing amount of times over the past few months and she had grown worried over what made him look that way. When he knew she was watching, he was all smiles and jokes like always. Yet, it was the times that he thought he was utterly alone that truly showed her how heavy his work was weighing on his shoulders. She thought over the fact he had to deal with his daughters lack of skill in pretty much everything on top of the stress of his work as she changed into clean clothes and washed her hands and face.

She was quiet during their dinner, an odd thing as she usually was willing to tell her parents about her day with the children around the neighborhood. However, those dark thoughts on her own inabilities plagued her still that night, thus she ate and excused herself to bed without the usual warmth that she brought to their evening meals. She moved into her small bedroom and willingly crawled into her waiting bed without changing into her nightgown or clearing up the small clutter that had built up that day. She curled into a ball under her blanket just as her door swung open slightly and her parents peeked their heads inside with worry creasing their brows.

"I wonder if something happened with her friends today." Louis mused as they stepped away from her bedroom door after it was once again shut securely.

"She never explained where she got the cut from, I just hope that Jenny didn't put her up to anything." Sarah shook her head slowly as she spoke, "Ever since Jericho was sent to study in Central that girl seems to be putting Emily up to wilder and wilder stunts." She crossed her arms and frowned at the thought of the pigtailed blonde who had become something of a menace to the parents around their neighborhood.

"We should just let her sleep, she's getting older. I know I didn't want to talk to my parents about everything at her age." He chuckled as he lead his wife down the hallway and away from their bedrooms. She nodded at his words, but still glanced over her shoulder with her brows furrowed in concern.

* * *

Emily was groggy when she awoke the next day, her body felt heavy and her eyes did not want to open, causing her to roll out of her bed with an annoyed groan at the sunlight that stung at her pupils from the other side of her eyelids. She pulled herself up and was shuffling across her room to her dresser when she heard glass shattering from the front of her home. Her eyes were opened wide in a split second and her body stiffened in shock and fear. This was only amplified in her when a loud banging followed shortly after. She scrambled to her bedroom door as the sounds of her mother screaming reached her ears, only to stop in her tracks when they were cut short suddenly. Ice ran through her veins as yet another thump followed the last sound from her mother. She forced her body to move in that moment, pushing her door open wide and scrambling down the hallway like she was being chased by a terrifying monster rather than running headlong into danger.

Her rush to get to her mother had her sliding onto her knees as she lost her footing upon entering the living room. She landed with a wet splat on her rump and her attention was stolen by a hulking black figure standing in the hole that once was her front door. It turned towards her and she felt a thick wet substance splash across her face as it glowing violet eyes settled on her. She couldn't move, couldn't utter a sound, the icy cold fear of what the beast would do to her had her entire body shaking so badly that it was impossible for her to act no matter what the things intentions were. It's eyes narrowed at her cowering form and for a second she thought that would be the last thing she would see. It was not so merciful however, and soon after studying her it turned and bounded it's way through the hole it had made and out of her line of sight. What it left behind for her to observe with the light that its body had blocked before had her eyes welling with silent tears that rolled down her cheeks in rivers.

Blood was everywhere; it seeped into the braided carpet and ran out over the stone floor. Long streaks of it that began in star-burst at the top ran down the walls of the small room. The thing that most disturbed young Emily was the red stain that seemed to continually seep from her parents, who where carelessly thrown over each other in a heap in the middle of their small living room. Her silver eyes were wide with terror as she sat on her knees in the growing puddle of crimson liquid that was once her living room carpet. Her brown locks fell around her shoulders limply, some of the silky tresses where now sticky and red with the splatter the beast had sprayed her with when it turned to see Emily. Her face was streaked with tears and brown muck, a sick mixture that hid her usually pretty features.

There was a man there after a while, throwing a gray sheet respectively over her dead parents and blocking the sickening sight from her vision which was still slightly blurred with tears. A blonde woman in a starched blue and white uniform was wrapping her in a coat and muttering soothing words in her ear which she ignored. Voices where all around her as her small home slowly filled with people. One man who seemed to be in charge patted her head, he had odd white gloves with transmutation circles on the backs, and nicely kept black hair. His uniform matched the woman's, and pretty much everyone else in the room but for herself, a strange golden haired boy with a bright red coat and a tall man in armor. The man who had patted her head squatted down before her and met her silver eyes with his deep blackish brown ones.

"Do you know what they were after, The ones who did this to your parents?" He asked in an authoritative voice. She shook her head slowly and pointed towards her father's office.

"They went in there." She croaked, her voice sore from crying, it had become obvious to her in the hours she was alone to take everything in. It looked to her as if her father was dragged from her study before her mother was attacked, a long browning stain from her father's office to where he lay under her mother made the fact that he was attacked in the other room obvious to her. He nodded and placed one hand on her shoulder, squeezing it tenderly

"Perhaps it would be best if we got the girl away from here Colonel Mustang sir." The blonde woman had appeared at her side and was saluting the man, Colonel Mustang. He nodded and pointed towards the open front door with a wave of his hand.

"Havoc is outside, He can take her to Central and we will find a safe place from there. You never know, they may return for her." He turned after speaking to the woman and gave her a gentle smile, "Don't you worry, we will protect you." He assured her warmly. All she could think was:  _why didn't you protect my parents?_  Blindly she allowed the woman to lead her out of the dimly lit house and into the shockingly bright light of the midday sun.

A blonde man with a haircut that resembled something a three year old would think of and a fine coat of stubble on his chin was leaned against a very important looking black car with the symbol of Amestris embezzled on the door. He was halfway through smoking a cigarette and simply allowing the ashes to fall between his slightly scuffed military boots. She was led to stand before the back door of the car and then told to wait there as the blonde woman spoke in quick whispers to the blonde man. After a moment the man seemed to materialize before her eyes.

"Hi there, the names Havoc, Jean Havoc." he held his hand out politely for her to shake. She looked at the hand for a second, ungloved and scarred with tobacco stains at the tip of his two longest fingers, this man was a military official, not an alchemist.

"Emily Hagraven." She mumbled as she accepted his hand and gave it a quick shake. It felt odd to be so formal at a time like this. She could still smell the blood and rotting smell of death that was seeping from her home like a black cloud.

A flash of red from the front door of her home caught her eye and she turned her head to see the strange red coated boy who was leading the armored man outside with a sour look on his face. Havoc waved them over with a smile that caused him to drop his now spent cigarette. She moved closer to the car, running one finger over a chrome door handle, trying to do anything but look at what once was her home.

Suddenly the three of them where walking towards her, the man in the armor looked meek and scared to her, nervous energy seemed to jump from his shiny frame as they drew closer and closer. She noticed that the boy who wore the strange red coat had eyes that matched his hair in an eerie too perfect way that made her wonder if maybe they were fake.

"Emily, this is Edward and Alphonse Elric. They will be joining us on our trip to Central." Jean Havoc introduced them through his new cigarette that he was busy lighting with a fancy looking lighter.

"H-hi Emily, nice to make your acquaintance." The armored man held out a hand to her and she watched as it shook slightly, "My name is Alphonse Elric."

"Nice to meet you Alphonse." she said with a forced smile as she reached to accept his hand.

"Why are you being so formal and stiff! You just had a terrible thing happen to you, you can at least cry." The blonde who she assumed was Edward Elric jumped between them quickly, stopping the polite shake before their hands touched, "Come on we have to get to central before Winry." he muttered as he shot a glare at Alphonse.

"Sorry brother, I wasn't thinking." Alphonse looked nervous once again as her rubbed the shiny helmet like someone would rub their head. She thought this was odd as the front door was opened for her by the kind Havoc. She gave him a polite nod and slid into the leather covered passenger seat. After a moment the car sagged with the weight of his armor as Alphonse climbed in the backseat behind her, followed by the sour and sullen Edward. Havoc climbed into the driver's seat beside her and smiled.

"Everyone ready?" he asked as he cranked the car, sending the vibrations from the engine up her spine. She slumped in her seat and rested her head against the glass of the window. Her eyes watered as the car pulled away and turned to go down the driveway. She watched the small cabin drift away from her in the rear-view mirror. As they pulled onto the main road the first of many more warm tears slid down her cheek. She tried to be quiet as she cried but the sobs she kept from escaping her throat caused her body to shake. She bit her lip and pulled her knees up to her chest as the tears cut warm lines down her cheeks.

The other three seemed to politely ignore her tears as trees and houses fell away from her blurred vision to be replaced by concrete and brick buildings. The ride was quiet after her tears finally stopped. She was sitting a little straighter and even looking around in awe at the large official looking buildings as Havoc drove them towards the very heart of Central city.

* * *

A menacingly large white building loomed over the heart of Amestris and Central city. She looked upon it in awe as they drove closer and closer. Large bright green yards where separated by paved drives and perfectly trimmed hedges. large trees sat in the middle of each of the four yards with tables set up in octagons around them. She saw a few groups of blue and white uniformed soldiers running across a couple of the yards as their commanding officers called out orders to them. She noticed a few people at a group of tables with their noses in large books, a couple of the people had transmutation circles on gloves like the Colonel. She heard Edward groan from the back seat as they drew even closer to the large main building. Havoc shrugged and chuckled as a angry looking blonde girl approached their slowing car.

"Edward Elric!" The girl shouted as she leaned close to the back window, "What did I hear about your automail!" Emily briefly wondered why almost everyone was a blonde as the two exchanged loud angry sounding words from the backseat. She turned to look but stopped short when she caught Havoc's eye. His look he was shooting her said: stay out of it.

"Thank you for the ride Mr. Havoc." Alphonse's child-like voice called as he pulled his blonde brother from the car and away from the other girls wildly swinging wrench. Emily raised one eyebrow but kept quiet as Havoc waved goodbye to the three as they made their way into the large building.

"The boss is in for it this time for sure, He busted a valve in his arm and that Winry is so picky about that automail." Havoc chuckled as he pulled out of the drive for the Command center and back into the busy streets of the city. She frowned as she thought carefully over his words.

"Automail? wait is Alphonse your boss?" she asked as she scratched the dry muck from her cheek. She felt like she would never be clean again, even after a hundred baths. The image of her parents laid out over one another in the middle of her destroyed living room popped into her mind once again and she shivered in fear at the thought.

"Oh no, Al is a sweet kid but Edward is who i call boss." He said with a smile as he flipped his spent cigarette out of his open driver's side window. She raised her eyebrow, sure the shorter guy had worn a coat in the middle of the summer, and gloves on each hand to boot but she didn't think he seemed like an amputee. She had seen many in her fathers clinic, and they all seemed to not quite blend well with their false limbs. Edward, with what little she had to go off of, seemed to be at one with his automail to the point that she couldn't pinpoint which arm was the false one.

"When did he lose his arm?" she asked as she leaned back in her seat with her eyes fixed on him. Her thoughts on amputee's and how each had different ways of dealing with the heavy metal limbs were at the forefront of her mind as she asked the question.

"When he was just a kid, I think he was eleven." Havoc shrugged, "he lost a leg too, Winry came through for him though. She built him automail and installed it in less than a month. He was pretty impressive too, managed to learn to use them like normal limbs in less than a year. It usually takes at least three to go through the therapy he managed to fight his way through." He was smiling as he said each word, and she thought his eyes seemed to sparkle as he spoke. She blinked slowly as his words sunk in, he was a double amputee. Emily had not even toyed with the idea of one of his legs being automail, he must have grown accustomed to them quickly for him to treat them as extensions of his body rather than add ons to it.

"You sound like you have a lot of respect for him." She stated as they pulled up to a large apartment building. Her eyes flashed to it for a second before returning to Havocs gently smiling face.

"Yeah." He cut the car off and pulled the key from the ignition," I guess you're right, the kid lost everything but his brother, and he almost lost him. Now he is well on his way to being one of the best state alchemists I have ever seen." He shrugged and looked past her to the building beyond her window, "Ready to go meet the family you will be staying with?" he asked.

"Staying with?" she asked as her head turned quickly to scan the building a bit more carefully than she had before. It was plain enough looking, just a red brick building with rows of evenly spaced windows and a fire escape running up one side.

"Oh yeah the Hughes family, nice people and Mrs. Hughes makes the best homemade meals you have ever tasted." He patted her shoulder and opened his door. She waited a moment before following suit and stepping out of the car.

She followed him up the cracking stone steps and into the surprisingly cool main hallway of the apartment building. there was an old-fashioned looking staircase that lead up to the floors above them. She studied the wrought iron railing as Havoc moved to read a sign on the wall nearby.

He tapped her shoulder as he stepped on the first of many steps. She turned away from the shiny metal to look at his face, which seemed bare without a cigarette hanging from his lips. He pointed upwards with the wave of his hand.

"They live on the fourth floor. their apartment number is 407." she nodded and allowed him to lead her up the three flights of stairs until they came out on the fourth floor. They came out across from a door marked 402. The rest of the doors but for 401 lined the other side of the hallway leading off to their left.

She followed him, after his quick grumble about non-smoking buildings, down the hallway until they reached the correct door. He knocked upon the dark wood of the door three times in a quick succession, after a pause the door creaked open to reveal a lovely older woman with light brown hair she had pulled back in a bun and the most beautiful green eyes Emily had ever seen. The woman looked between them for a moment before her warm green eyes settled on Emily's bloodshot silver ones.

"You must be Emily." The woman smiled at her warmly the way a mother would, sending a pang of sadness straight to her heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Dear Readers,
> 
> If you read any FMA Fanfiction on Fanfiction.net you may recognize this story, or it may strike a familiar chord in your mind. That is because it is a reboot of a fanfiction I started years ago and I wanted to give another go with the skills I picked up as I grew older. I hope you enjoy the story that I lovingly edited and embellished with new scenes to emphasize my original story. If you read the original let me know what you think of the reboot, and if you are new to the story I do hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Much Love;  
> Ad


	2. Chapter 2, Safety in Numbers:

 The Hughes family home was quaint and very warm feeling. Emily had entered not knowing what to expect and had been rewarded with a living room that looked much like one her own dear mother would have picked for their home. Two small couches faced each other with a small coffee table between them while two lounge chairs sat at opposite ends of said table. Jean Havoc sat in one of the chairs while she sat at one end of a light green colored couch. Two steaming cups of tea sat on the table before them, Emily's tea was already half gone due to her drinking it quickly to calm her nerves when Mrs. Hughes had set it before her. It didn’t really help however, and just gave her shaking fingers something to clutch onto instead of her knees.

 Mrs. Hughes was currently in the small kitchen pulling out a mouthwatering fresh apple pie from her oven. A small girl who appeared to be around the age of two with adorable pigtails and big bright green eyes identical to her mother’s sat at the kitchen table that she could see through the opened door. The young girl was giggling and happily holding her arms out to her mother without a care in the world. Her eyes stung with new tears as she thought of her own mother; lying dead either still slumped over her father or on an operating table where they would cut her open to find out what she already knew. She would no longer have the warm figure to go to when she needed a hug, no longer have a person she could tell her secrets to over tea. She hadn’t even said goodnight to her own parents the night before, being caught up in her own thoughts as she was, she couldn’t remember saying anything at all to either of them since she readied for their last dinner together.

 "Here." she looked up to see a white napkin as a warm tear slid down her cheek. She accepted Havoc's small gift and wiped her eyes until they were dry, and just in time. Mrs. Hughes and her daughter walked into the room just as she slid the napkin into her pocket. The younger girl climbed up on the couch beside her and watched her face with an innocent curiosity that brought with it the large doll like look to her eyes and the slightly parted lips that caused Emily to feel very odd as she struggled for something to say to the little girl.

 "I hope you two are hungry." The nice woman sat the pie and four plates down one the coffee table and gave Emily a gentle smile. This gave her a reason to look away from the quiet toddler which she took willingly and instead turned her gaze on the lightly browned crust of the slice of pie that was held out to her.

 "I'm starving, your food always tastes so good, I couldn't turn down a single bite." Havoc

stated as he wiped drool from his chin.

 "How about you dear?" Mrs. Hughes smiled down at her with a soft sort of look in her eyes that told Emily there was thinly veiled pity waiting there in their depths.

 "Thank you." she stated quietly as she accepted the offered plate.

 "Gracia, how is your husband, haven't heard from him in a while." Havoc asked through a mouthful of pie. Emily opted to place her pie on the table and simply sip from her slowly cooling tea. The two adults shared a murmured conversation in which she caught the words "uncle" and "far away". Her uncle Albert immediately came to mind. He was a cheerful black haired man with bright brown eyes that always hid behind a pair of half-moon spectacles. She remembered fondly the times she would spend at his house with his pet greyhound Henry, who she could still remember riding like a horse when she was younger and her family would gather at her uncle’s home for celebrations from holidays to birthdays. He was a military official like Mr. Havoc, and was usually away from home, either fighting a gang of rogues or witnessing the signing of important papers.

 Albert was the last of her living family now, he was always so far away and many times on such gravely dangerous missions that she found herself doubting that she would see him anytime soon. Even with his brother and sister-in-law’s deaths he would likely not be able to come home at all. She would be the only family member at their funeral and she doubted many other people would be there at all.

 "You gonna stay wid us fo-ever?" she looked down to see the young pig tailed girl staring up at her with those bright green doll like eyes. She blinked away the tears she had not noticed growing in her eyes and shook her head lightly at the young girl. Emily could see that she looked hopeful, possibly already looking at her as a new and exciting playmate to add a bit of fun to her daily life. She didn’t think that would be the case however, with Albert still alive he would be the first one that the government gave custody of her to. She took in a deep breath as she watched the young girl’s hope filled eyes and felt her chest contract with guilt that she could not control.

 "I don't know." Emily said slowly as she turned to the adults who were now looking at her. Gracia smiled and looked down as Havoc scratched his head.

 "Well," He began," We are hoping to get in touch with your uncle, but you are about to be seventeen and that's a legal adult." she nodded solemnly as his words sunk in. Getting in touch with her uncle would be a tough job if he was not near a command center, and as a legal adult he would have no reason to rush to her side or be excused from his duty.

 "So as soon as I am seventeen then I will be on my own." She mumbled as she dropped her head, "I guess that makes sense but, what about my belongings? I left everything back... back there." She did not want to say back at home, it was too painful to think of, all she could see when the word came to mind was a bloodstained world. This image that it evoked only caused her face to warm around her eyes as tears welled around their edges.

 "The whole house has to be documented for evidence, it may take a while, I hope you understand." Havoc seemed to slowly sink into a depression as he spoke the words. His weak demeanor did nothing to calm her growing frustration at the entire situation however, and she found it hard to hold back her thoughts any longer.

 "In other words, I can't even have a change of clothes." She almost growled, her boiling anger made her vision go red and her fists to clench. “Some help you all are! You expect me to just go on without anything! Haven't I lost enough today!" She stood and ran from the apartment. Hot tears cut down her cheeks as she ran down each flight of stairs and out of the building. Her heart was pounding as she turned down a random street and began running once more. She did not look back once as she pounded her feet against the tightly packed stone that made up the sidewalk. Her mind was going in circles around the things she had went through in less than twenty four hours. 

 "To hell with them!" she cried as she ran. “To hell with all of those heartless bastards!" she didn't know where she was going, all she knew was she had to get away, From Gracia's sad eyes and Havoc's awkward glances. They felt pity for her but they were wrong. She was the daughter of Sarah and Louis Hagraven, two of the greatest alchemists she had ever known; she did not need their pity. She turned down an alleyway blindly and tripped on a loose brick, one of many that lined the sidewalks. She fell hard, skinning her hands and knees as she landed on the rough uneven ground. Her hands swelled and dripped with oozing red blood as she watched them. Her left palm was penetrated by a shiny rock that was turning a bright shade of crimson with her fresh blood. She squeezed her hands into fists, pushing the rock deeper into her flesh and ignoring the sharp pain it gave her. Memories of the day before when a wound like that would be healed in a second by her father caused the pain in her heart to override that of her body until she was slumped over herself with her shoulders shaking and pitiful whimpers rolling forth from her utterly defeated form.

 "I hate them all!" she cried up at the clear sky between the buildings. Her tears were coming faster now. Falling in heavy drops from her chin to her chest, but she didn't care. She was bloody and filthy, and most of all she was completely alone in the world. Her heart felt like it was breaking all over again as she thought this. People passed by the small alley she had found herself in, some looked at her curiously while others paid her no mind at all. She took note of this but attempted to tell herself she didn’t care about the strangers who seemed to not care about her. It was just another sign that she was truly alone for the first time in her life.

 “I miss my mom.” She whimpered as she pulled her knees up to her chest to rest her head on them. Her shoulders shook against her control as she attempted to hold back the tears that rolled forth from her eyes against her will. A hollow feeling caused her to clutch at her chest as she shrank into herself in a half effort at comfort. 

 "Well well well, I thought I heard someone's pitiful cries." She looked up to see a dark haired woman wearing a skin tight dress that clung to her every curve and made her breasts very noticeable, almost as much as the tattoo that rested between them. The woman had sensual full lips and bright purple eyes that where half lidded as if she was bored of looking down at Emily. Her long slender arms were crossed just under her breasts and her legs were slightly apart, her left hip cocked out to the side as she stood there.

 "Can I eat the girl?" A short, fat, bald man with a large nose and an even larger mouth appeared beside the strange woman. His huge arms dragged beside him and Emily watched in shock as he lifted one massive paw of a hand to his lips to press his index finger, which was roughly the size of her wrists, into them. A single thick line of drool seeped from his lips onto his finger as his purple eyes stared at her. He was in black, his tight tank top and pants where a deep ink black while his scuffed boots where a slightly lighter shade. The very sight of him had a ball of sick bile creeping up her throat, his beady eyes 

 "Now now Gluttony my dear, look at her, you'll get a tummy ache if you eat her, she is much too bony." The woman's voice was like velvet laced with poison. It sounded so smooth and sweet but with a bitter edge that made Emily cringe away.

 "Who, who are you? What do you want? I don't have anything worth stealing." She stuttered as she used her sore hands to back away from the strange couple. Their purple eyes where mysterious and chilled her to the core.

 "Who we are doesn't matter you little worm." the woman's voice cut through her as she slowly began to walk toward Emily, "Don't worry we aren't here to steal anything from you, we just need a victim, an example if you will." She reached out as if to touch Emily, but drew no closer to her physically. Her fingers stretched in an unhuman way and slowly inched their way towards Emily, who had a sudden burst of adrenaline which allowed her to jump back away from the digits nearing her face, and turn her back to the two strange beings pretending to be human. She scrambled to her feet and pushed herself forward, running faster than she had ever ran before.

 Her feet pounded down on the pavement over and over as she ran down the street, past families and people who stopped to stare at her as if her actions where the strangest thing they have ever seen. She did not look back to see if the two where following her, to do that she would have to slow down and that did not feel like an option. She closed her eyes against the strange stares and pushed herself to run faster. A stitch bloomed painfully in her side but she did not slow down. Her heart was beating faster and faster in her ears, it was loud. So loud that she didn't hear who was yelling at her until she ran into a hard half metal half flesh chest. The impact sent her back onto her buttocks hard enough to knock the wind out of her lungs. She coughed and looked up through the blinding sunlight to see two gold orbs of eyes staring down at her. Blonde hair stood up in an antenna like way right above the eyes and right below them a mouth hung open in a look of shock and awe.

 "Miss Hagraven?" She turned to see the shiny metal body that could only belong to Alphonse, just as the child-like voice could only be his as well. He held a large hand out which she accepted, allowing the large man to pull her to her feet," What are you doing here?" He asked as she futilely dusted off her clothes.

 "These two strange people were chasing me. I think they were trying to kill me." She stated as she finally turned to look behind her only to see an almost empty street and no pursuers," I don't know where they went."

 "Why were you on your own?" She turned to see Edwards angry gold eyes flash. It was odd to her, they were so full of worry a second before.

 "I just had to have a moment alone." she was calming down now. Finally feeling safe enough to relax her legs and arms," Havoc, and Mrs. Hughes, they were just looking at me like I was some pitiful little girl. I lost my parents today, I don't need to lose my dignity as well." She fought back the tears that threatened the corners of her eyes, crying now would just make her seem like what she didn't want, a pitiful lost little girl.

 "You look like you could use a warm shower, and maybe some food." Edward pointed out with a soft sigh," You might as well come with us; we kind of get what you're going through." He turned and waved his right hand in the air in a follow me motion. She turned to Alphonse who simply nodded and followed in line behind Edward. She rubbed her neck and winced at the pain it brought her still sore palm, and followed behind the two as they made their way down the street.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 The brother's small apartment wasn't very impressive; other than the stacks and stacks of books laid around everywhere there was nothing but the bare essentials, and barely any of those. Emily felt her skin tingling from the rough scrubbing she had done during her quick shower. She now sat on a bed that felt as if it was never used and picking apart a peanut butter sandwich instead of eating it. Edward was laid across the bed beside the one she sat on. His mouth was open slightly and his metal hand rested lightly on his chest as he slept. He looked peaceful in his sleep, the line that she thought never left his forehead had smoothed out causing him to look younger and, she swallowed a lump that had formed in her throat as she studied him, attractive. Alphonse was squatted down by a table that looked much too small beside his large frame. He was vigorously studying a book that looked to be an alchemical science journal.

 She sat the plate that she had finely shredded her sandwich onto on the bedside table between the two beds and moved to join him at the table. He did not look up from his book as she pulled a chair close and leaned near his shoulder to look at the page he was reading so diligently. It had a transmutation circle on it with a chart telling what every part of it meant and did. The page next to it was full of handwritten notes that where chicken scratch compared to the neatness of the diagram.

 "You have to make sure each symbol goes in the correct place or else a toy wooden horse could turn into a smelly pile of dog doo." His voice shocked her for a moment before his words set in. She chuckled and shook her head.

 "My father used to read these books to me every day during home-school hours, I don't think his words ever clicked up here." She tapped her temple twice as she spoke," I guess I just was never supposed to be an alchemist." She shrugged and picked a random book from the stack and opened it to the first page she saw.

 "Your dad was Louis Hagraven, the medical alchemist that was working on replacing missing organs with animal parts. It was a big controversy because some other medicine based alchemists said that was one step away from chimeras." Alphonse looked up at her from his book as he spoke.

 "That sounds like dad." She stated and rubbed her neck," My mom was sick, her lungs were bad and he was attempting to find a way to keep her alive. What good that did them." she sucked in a shaky breath after she spoke, the sting of tears causing her to blink her eyes furiously.

 "I'm sorry for your loss." He stated solemnly. the tears came quickly to her eyes then, flowing freely down her stinging cheeks. He was the first one out of everyone that day that said any condolences about her parents. She threw her arms around his metal helmet and shoulders and let the sobs rock her body instead of trying to hold them back.

 "Th-thank you." She stuttered through her tears. He seemed stunned for a moment before wrapping his arms around her and patting her back gently. She allowed the gentle giant to soothe her for a moment before pulling away and wiping her eyes on Edward's shirt which she borrowed after her shower. She smiled at him awkwardly and sniffled.

 "I uh, I needed that. You're the only one to even mention my parents passing in a sad way. I know the military has to remain professional, but it just felt like everyone was being heartless bastards." She shook her head to clear it and reached down to pick up the book she had dropped when she hugged him.

 "You shouldn't let them get to you, Mustang's a real hard ass but he takes care of the people around him. If not for him I wouldn't be a state alchemist and would probably still be in Resembool." She turned to see Edward sitting up in his bed and rolling his metal arm around his shoulder socket. She wondered how he lived with a prosthetic, it seemed to her that it would be an awkward heavy thing hanging from his body, but he made it look weightless and graceful.

 She stood and rubbed her arm as she thought about what he said. He managed to get this far in life with just him and his brother, perhaps one day she could find a way to be happy without her own family. her stomach grumbled, finally at its breaking point of hunger. She eyed the peanut butter covered strips of bread and frowned.

 "you don't like peanut butter?" Alphonse asked her. She blushed as both brothers eyes rested on her, not used to being a part of the spotlight.

 "Not really, it's too thick and sticky." she stated as she made her way to pick up the plate. Edward yanked it from her hand and tossed it in the garbage with a slight smirk. She looked between the two as chuckles seeped from Alphonse. Edward was strutting towards the phone on a wall nearby. She was confused as he dialed the numbers quickly and leaned against the wall. Alphonse simply shrugged and patted her shoulder.

 "I hope you like noodles and meat sauce." He chuckled as he made his way past her to study another stack of book at the far wall of the room. She raised her eyebrow as her mouth hung slightly open in surprise at the sudden action she saw in the two boys.

 "I am not against them." She said softly as Edward ordered food loudly over the phone. He shouted something about making sure milk wasn't on the menu as she sat back down at the table; the book Al was reading was still open on the page that had the scrawling writing and the diagram. She pulled the book closer, reading the diagram carefully then reading the notes written on the next page. The two hand writing's were so different yet so familiar to her. She gasped and about fell to the floor. The diagram was her mother's handwriting and the scrawling almost illegible notes where her fathers. She flipped the book to the first page and found her parents pen names: Scott and Laura Heathcross.

 "This is one of my parent's notebooks." She gasped as she looked wildly around the room.

 "What!?" Alphonse appeared at her side looking over her shoulder. Edward hung up the phone and rushed to join them at the table.

 "What's going on here?" He asked with a hard look at his brother.

 "Look, this is my parents fake names they picked to hide their secrets. They told me them once when we were having a family night. I thought it was just silly nicknames but they were actually using them for work." She looked down at the names in wonder as she spoke.

 "That's impossible, we found that book in Central commands library." Ed stated as he scratched his head. Alphonse seemed full of nervous energy once again as he shifted between feet slowly and as quietly as he could.

 "But my father was a state alchemist up until i was twelve. There's no telling how old these research notes are. My parents worked together for years before they married." She flipped through the pages and read the few side notes that her mother was responsible for writing. Each page looked like a complicated shopping list, but Emily knew how to really read it. She was shocked at what she discovered from her mother's words.

 "They were trying to transform bear hearts into human; it says here that they had to dispose of a chimera that was accidentally created by a faulty circle." The two boys leaned in close as she read from the book carefully," Do you think that maybe they made a chimera that survived? That could be the killer." She rubbed her chin as she thought through what she had discovered.

 "It's a possibility." Edward muttered as he leaned against her chair back. His braided pigtail tickled her head causing her to wave it away out of frustration. Al picked through the stack of books, looking through them for her parents fake names as she flipped through their journal looking for any other clue to what they had been working on. There was a silence in the apartment as each of them drifted into their own minds. The loud knocking that echoed through the apartment after twenty minutes interrupted their thoughts. Edward jumped into action, running towards the door and throwing it open to reveal a surprised looking delivery boy.

 "Hi did someone order Brio's famous noodles and meat sauce?" The guy seemed nervous even though he stood a full head taller than Edward, who was writing a number on a sheet of paper and handing it to him.

 "This is my state alchemist I.D. number and account number, take your payment from there." He stated as he yanked the bag from the delivery boys hand and shut the door," Dinner." He said through a smile as he sat the bag on the table in front of her.

 "It smells delicious." She said as she sniffed the steam coming from the bag. her mouth watered at the smell of the spicy and sweet meat sauce that she could smell.

 "Just wait until you taste it, Brio's is my favorite restaurant in all of Central. They are a big city dine in with a small town feel." He pulled out two white boxes as he spoke and placed one in front of her. She chuckled at his enthusiasm.

 "Are you discussing food or making an ad for the restaurant?" She asked as she opened her box to be rewarded with a delicious looking plate of noodles and meat sauce. they were all topped with what looked like hand rolled miniature meatballs which caused her stomach to growl as soon as her eyes spotted them. She picked up her plastic covered fork and unwrapped it before twirling it in the noodles and pulling them to her mouth to take the first bite. It was delicious, the tangy sauce and spicy sausage-like meat mixed well with the smooth taste of the noodles.

 "I guess I could always fall back on that if I decide that alchemy isn't for me." He chuckled through his half eaten dinner. She shook her head and took another bite of her food. Edward and Emily fell into a conversation on alchemical reactions and lost track of time. Soon the day turned into the deepest night and Emily couldn't hold open her eyes any longer.

 "you should probably turn in, you've had a rough day." Ed said while pointing to the unused bed with his thumb.

 "Thanks." she yawned as she stood and disposed of her empty to go plate and fork. She managed a slow walk to the bed and fell into it, hugging the pillow close to her as she closed her tired eyes. Her world faded to black as she slowly fell asleep.

In her dream there was a deep black void that seemed to ooze a sick looking slime, teeth formed at the edges and clamped shut on each other. The vision pulled away to reveal a massive stomach of a bald man. When she looked closer she noticed that it was the same man from before, Gluttony, who smiled at her in the odd face splitting in half way he had smiled before.

 "Lust isn't here to tell me not to eat you little worm, and you look so tasty." His mouth grew larger and larger as he spoke until it looked like he would simply swallow her whole. She tried to scream and run away but the faster she kicked out with her legs the closer he got to her, and the greater he grew. She shuddered, holding her arms over her head and braced herself for the impact that was to come.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I Hope you are enjoying this story so far, I combined a couple chapters and edited them a bit before publishing. I think they flow better this way and will allow me to add onto the story a bit more as it continues.  
> Much Love;  
> AD


	3. Chapter 3, A Quick Fix:

 Emily sat up quickly in her bed, fresh sweat dripping down her face as her breathing slowly slowed from hyperventilating to something of a normal speed. She fell back into the sheets and sighed heavily as one of her thin wrists rested upon her forehead. It was the same dream, the same dream that had haunted her for the full six months she had lived in central. It was to the point that she expected it as she fell asleep at night yet it still gained the same reaction from her as she awoke. She lay there feeling defeated, not for the first time in the half a year she had been living in her uncle's home, and wanted to cry. She wanted to but the tears would not come. After her parents death she couldn't even force herself to cry. Sitting up took a moment, it felt as if her body had simply given up as she forced herself into the simple position, but after she was there she could slump slightly over and click on the light that took up most of her nightstand.

 The light that flooded the room revealed a large book on her nightstand with a rough leather cover. A copy of her father's Alchemical notes she had borrowed from her dear friend Alphonse not two weeks before. She ran her fingers across the rough leather surface and thought of her dear father for a moment before forcing herself up and out of the room. The floor was like ice on her bare feet as she made her way down the hall to her bathroom. The light was bright and harsh in this room causing her to squint as she shuffled towards the sink and turned on the stream of cold water. She splashed a hefty helping onto her cheeks and shook her head to relieve herself of the lingering dream. The wall clock was on five fifty causing her to groan as she read it.

 "I'm up way too early." She muttered to herself before yawning. She had no intentions of going back to sleep with the dream so fresh in her mind, however her new living arrangements where lonely at best. She was all alone in a four bedroom house with nothing furnishing it but plain looking furniture and a few plaques from her uncle Alberts rewards. She found herself reading over one he achieved for valor. The words didn't quite sink in as her eyes scanned over them.

 She was allowing her mind to drift again, sinking in to the memory of her parents dual funeral. Not many people attended it, a few of her father’s clients, and some of her mother’s friends. The Elric brothers had attended it at her side but neither of them had spoken more than two words to her during it, there was also a few military figures there that she did not recognize standing alongside some that she only recognized from the day her parents were taken from her. The sky was clear and sunny when they were laid to rest in the cemetery near her home, betraying her and not allowing her to hide the fact she was crying by showing the evidence on her cheeks. She had attempted to be as quiet as possible and allow the others around her to grieve at their own pace, it had to be her shaking shoulders that told Edward and Alphonse how much she was hurting. She remembered Al placing his hand on her shoulder and squeezing it lightly at the same time that Edwards warm flesh hand slipped into her own and held her fingers gently.

 A knock on the door caused her to jump as she was pulled from her thoughts. The house had been so quiet that the soft knocking was like a parade drum, echoing through it as if foretelling an ominous future. She found herself shuffling towards the door just as another even louder knock boomed through the quiet rooms. The sound caused her heart to leap into her throat as her pace stuttered to a stop. After taking a moment to let out a calming breath, she moved slowly towards the front room of the house, her hands shaking as the memory of her dream seeped fresh into the front of her mind. the knocking pounding in her ears like her own beating heart.

 The light coming from the street lights outside cast long ghastly shadows across the nearly bare floor of her living room. Although they caused her new home to seem like something out of a child’s nightmare, she stuck to these shadows as she moved towards the door which she could see moving with each pound it received from the outside. After a few heart stopping moments of stalking through her own home, Emily was close enough to touch the finely grained wood of its surface. Her fingers twitched as she slowly raised her right hand to reach towards the cool metal door knob, just as the last booming knock sent the door flying from its hinges like a piece of scrap paper in a hurricane. She was blown back against the far wall just by the force of it, shielding her eyes from the blinding flash of light that she knew meant an alchemy circle had been activated. Shards of the doorframe landed on her arms and legs as she shielded herself from the blast.

 "Emily!" his voice had her whipping her head up and shielding her eyes from the glaring street lights now shining through the hole where her door used to be. Standing in the middle of the light was a tall dark form with glowing eyes and what appeared to be a bag slumped over its shoulder.

 "Alphonse?" She shielded her eyes as she stood, bringing her now close friend into sharper focus. He had his brother slumped over his shoulder and a line of blood running down his chest plate staining the metal a dark crimson/brown as it dried. Her eyes grew wide as she watched a fresh stream run over the shiny metal armor, “What happened to him?" she gasped as she rose to her feet quickly, slipping on sharp shards of wood as she did so.

 "I'm so sorry Emily, there was a truck and… and Envy and a metal lamp post." Alphonse stammered as he moved Edward unceremoniously towards the couch and laid him out on it carefully. Emily followed closely behind the metal man as he performed these tasks and almost fainted when she noticed the large hole in Edward's lower stomach. She held her hand over her mouth to hold back the sickening feeling building up in her as Alphonse seeped with nervousness and bounced from foot to foot behind her. Emily dropped to her knees and placed one hand on his abdomen just over the warm flow of blood. He groaned and shifted below her hand causing it to slip over the hole. She jumped back landing on her butt on the cold tiles.

 "Can, can you fix him?" Alphonse was looking down at her, his odd glowing eyes much too close in the semi darkness. She pulled herself back up and onto her knees next to the couch and looked closely at Edward's ever paling face. Her lips pulled into a tight frown as she noted the beads of sweat dotting his brow, and the way his own mouth was twisted into a curve of pain.

 "W-why did you come to me?" She asked as she tried and failed to keep her voice steady. She was no doctor; she didn't understand what she was supposed to do in this situation.

 "You have been studying your father's notes, I-I thought that you could..." Alphonse drifted into silence and merely pointed at his brother. Even without the details of his face open to her interpretation, she could tell that he was scared and hurting for the blonde who was still at death’s door. Her chest felt heavy as she looked down at him and could sense time ticking by, time that could be better spent repairing the broken body on her couch.

 "I'm no Alchemist Alphonse! Besides, dad used animal parts as a substitute," She rubbed her sweat covered forehead with the back of her left hand. It was too late to drive Edward to the hospital, and Alphonse wasn't going to be any help. She looked quickly around for anything that may be of some help, mentally checking off what she would need to patch him up. She would have to do something or else live with his life on her conscious. 

 "Alphonse, I need you to do some things for me as quickly as possible. I need you to go turn on my oven and set some knives inside it, then you need to gather some clean sheets from that closet in the front hall and a clean towel from the bathroom, I need my sewing kit from my room and a bottle of alcohol, along with the roll of gauze in the bathroom medicine cabinet. Can you do all that?" She turned to him talking quickly as she ran through her plan in her mind over and over. Time was not on her side, the image of the crimson liquid practically gushing from Edwards stomach told her that much.

 "Y-yeah I think so." He stuttered as he rubbed his gloved hands together nervously. Her eyebrow twitched as the thought of his actions costing her more time she did not have to spare.

  "Then GO!" She watched him jump and run from the room before letting a worried look cross her face. She closed her eyes for a precious second in a silent prayer, She did not want to be the one that Edward died on, "it's so much blood." she practically whined the words as she listened to Al banging through her house.

 "Is it that bad?" She jumped and looked into Edwards barely open golden eyes. He was looking at her with his mouth slightly open, a bubble of blood was at the corner of his lips and grew then shrunk with each breath he took. The very sight of his half there look sent a shiver of icy cold fear rolling down her spine.

 "You're, You're going to be just fine Ed." She said softly, reaching out to brush back his bangs as he closed his eyes. She was thankful for his small action, it allowed her to hide the fear that was swimming in her own silver orbs.

 "Liar," He chuckled, sounding more like a pained animal crying than a human chuckling. She let her eyes fall to her knees as his single word accusation sank in, causing her to feel as if a weight was pressing down on her shoulders and pushing her into the floor below.

 "He woke up?" She jumped and turned to see Al standing, with his arms full of her supplies, in the hallway. He seemed to try to become smaller as her eyes looked over him. She nodded slowly and tilted her head to the end table nearby her.

 "place them over there and then i need you to go fetch me a pair of scissors from the drawer near the stove and watch the knives, they need to be a glowing red before I can use them, and wrap them in table cloths before you bring them in here ok." He nodded and rushed to follow her commands. She waited until he had delivered her the scissors and returned to the kitchen before she turned back to Ed. She reached for the bottle of rubbing alcohol and splashed some on her hands before grabbing one of the three sheets Al had brought her and lining her work area with it, blocking Edwards line of sight as she did so. She ripped the second of the sheets into strips and soaked a few in alcohol to wipe his wound clean. 

 She winced as the now diluted stream of fresh blood ran down his pale skin. She moved onto folding the towel neatly and sliding it carefully under his side. She took the extra strips from the second sheet and wrapped her palms carefully in them. she opened her sewing kit and found a long needle, which she carefully bent into the best arc she could and drenched in Alcohol as well.

 "It's not as bad as it looked." She told the unconscious Edward as she pressed beside his wound carefully. She prodded into it with her index finger and measured the best she could how deep it was. she pulled her digit out of him and frowned at the dark red sheen around it.

 Al came in carrying four knives, each red hot and covered by the handles in thick cloth. He sat them down on the last sheet as she instructed and moved to stay out of the way. She doused the scissors in the alcohol and carefully snipped around the jagged edges of his wound, wincing each time she felt the sharpened utensil snip away another strip of his tender flesh. The knives were next on her list, she grimaced as she reached for the first one, she pressed the blade deep into his wound in order to stop the bleeding from the inside, and winced at the sizzling sound and smell of cooking meat. she repeated this with the rest of the knives until his wound was cauterized fully. She poured the alcohol over a spool of thread and threaded it through the needle before turning to the gash that finally stopped bleeding. She carefully sewed the skin, knotting it every stitch to keep it closed and burned the thread when she finished the last knot. She wiped the now sealed wound with one of the cloths and sat back sighing.

 "Will he be okay?" She turned to look at Alphonse and shrugged. He literally shook with his pent up energy as he sat awkwardly on her uncle's dirt brown recliner. 

 "I don't know for sure yet. Let's get him in Uncle Albert's room and we will take turns watching him, only time can tell now." She stood and stretched, popping her back and looking towards her ruined front door, "I think we should at least get him out of the front room, I don't want to be the house that attracts all the nosey people in the neighborhood." Alphonse simply nodded and moved to carefully lift his brother bridal style before turning to look down at her. She in turn tilted her head and led him through the house to her uncle's unused bedroom. There was an odd nagging thought in the back of her mind that perhaps she was intruding on the brothers precious moments together as she stood in the doorway and watched him gently lay his brother on the big bed before backing away.

 "Maybe you should go tell, someone." She offered softly when she saw his large metal head lower. He turned to look at her, who in turn shrugged. It was a good idea, she may have patched him up but she was still no doctor, the work she had done would not last and he truly needed the medical attention from experts. 

 "Colonel Mustang will kill me, and then brother." Al stated as he rubbed his hands together again. she stepped up to him and patted his large shoulder in a comforting manner, standing nearly on her tiptoes to do so. 

 "I'm sure he will kill you faster if he finds out about this from someone else." she shrugged, saddened by the fact she couldn't think of something better to say to the sad giant. He looked down at her for a moment before looking away.

 "I'll, fix your door, while I'm headed out." he shuffled past her and down the hall, she listened to his booming steps grow softer and softer as he traveled through the house. There was an odd creaking sound soon after, that she equates to him fixing the door with alchemy, then the loud definitive bang of the newly repaired door being shut firmly.

 The silence that fell around her then caused her throat to seize up in terror. She turned to leave, thinking to herself that she could do no more on her own, and she was basically on her own. It was now just her and Edward, the first person she had ever performed anything close to first aid on, the one person who had insisted that she step away from everything when her world was crashing around her and just take a breath. He was there for her when she was at her lowest, and now it was her turn to do the same for him as well. 

 With a determined line to her brow she turned and pulled a rocking chair up to the bed and sat down, pulling a pillow to her chest before leaning forward to study his sweat covered face. She bit her thumb and tried to figure out if that was a good sign. Not really sure what she was suppose to do in this sort of time, she leaned in close to study the pigment of his face. Her mind was racing with worry over his pale complexion when his eyes popped open. She froze, her nose millimeters from his own, and turned crimson red. He looked at her in shock at first but soon his features formed something closer to a smirk.

 "That's something I never thought I would wake up to." He rasped softly. She pinched her lips together and sat back hard enough in the chair to set it rocking. Her cheeks flamed red hot as she looked down at her knees to avoid making eye contact with him, thoughts of how close she had been to his face and how it must have looked to him were cluttered so fully in the front of her mind that she found it hard to find the explanation she felt he deserved for the odd moment.

 "I was just, checking your pigment, trying to see if you were getting your color back." She stumbled over the explanation quickly once she was able to come up with the words. Doing so without looking at him, it was the truth but she felt her face getting hotter as she spoke.

 "Thanks," he said as he looked up at the white ceiling above them," I think you saved my life." she was thrown by his sudden statement and simply sat there staring at him with her mouth slightly open. He laughed and held his wound with a pained look on his face," What's wrong, never been thanked before?" For a moment, she remained still, simply staring at him with confusion causing her brows to tilt upwards at the ends closest to each other. Only when the strangeness of her own appearance crossed her mind did she quickly shake her head and grasp for a reply.

 "N-no… I… I just wasn't expecting those words from you." She rubbed her neck and propped her feet on the metal frame of her uncle's bed, "I wasn’t expecting you to say anything really, you’ve been through quite a bit. Though, I am here to listen if you want to let me know what happened..." She added.

 "It's of no concern to you, trust me." He looked away from her as he spoke the words. She lowered her head sadly, When the Elric brothers didn't want to say something they never uttered the words. Awkward, that is how she felt as silence fell around them once again. He grunted a bit as he adjusted himself on the bed, looking for a comfortable position to lay in as she hovered over him, ready to help him out should he need her for anything. After a short struggle he managed to be at more of an incline with the help of a pair of pillows that she stuffed behind his back carefully. 

 “Do you happen to have anything for pain?” he asked as he looked down at his useless right arm. She followed his gaze as her bottom lip slipped between her teeth anxiously. He would have performed some sort of alchemy to cut the ties between his nerves and his brain if he could, she was almost sure of that fact, but without his right arm he felt as useless as she did.

 “I’ll… go check the medicine cabinet.” She did not wait for him to reply before she was practically running out of the room. Her feet carried her halfway down the hall before her next thought crossed through her mind, one that caused her to slow her pace as it stunned her. Why were the brothers so close that her home was the nearest one, and why were they fighting off homunculi in this area of the city?

 She mulled over these thoughts as she made her way into her bathroom and stepped up to the mirror above the sink. What looked back at her was a terrified young girl who had confusion and pain swirling in the depths of her eyes, turning their usual silver hues a deep grey as the weight of what happened to her friend settled in them.  _ What if it’s my fault? _ The look on her face questioned silently. Emily blinked and shook her head before inhaling deeply and letting it out slowly. She needed to be there for Edward right now, not lost in her own head.

 When she popped open the mirror hiding her medicine cabinet she was met with many bottles full of pills that she did not recognize. It took her a long time to sort through them and find the right ones, she heard Edward call out asking if she was there a few times during her search, so when she finally found the ones she was looking for she quickly shook two out into her hand and rushed back to her uncle’s room as quickly as her legs would carry her.

 “Do you need any-” her question was cut short as Edward took the offered pills and swallowed them with nothing to follow and make it easier for him. He took in a deep breath after they went down and seemed to wince at their taste before he looked up at her with a warm smile.

 “Thank you.” He whispered as he sank back into the pillows gladly. She returned his smile before looking down at her interlocked fingers.

 “Don’t mention it.” Her reply was barely loud enough to be considered a breath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear Readers,
> 
> This chapter is a bit shorter than the others, but I do hope that each of you still enjoy it.  
> Much Love;  
> Ad


	4. Chapter 4, Will you teach me?:

 Edward was still in the bed when Roy Mustang finally made his appearance. Emily had been reading one of her father's journals and fell asleep with her face pressed against the open pages. Her hand rested on the blankets just inches from Edwards own feverish digits. Roy looked upon the two sleeping teenagers and shook his head. Alphonse stood behind him glancing around the room, the sheets over his brothers body had a light pink stain forming over his wound causing Al to wonder what his brother had been doing to cause his wound to open.

 "Do you want to tell me what happened?" Roy looked at the metal giant as he spoke; Al in turn jumped and looked around even more nervously.

 "It's a long story." Alphonse watched his brothers face carefully, the sweat covering his forehead shone in the dim light making his blonde haired brother appear to be made of wax, his features seemed almost molded in the dim light. His eyes were shut softly in his sleep, but his lips were twisted slightly at their edges as he grimaced in pain  His eyes were shut softly in his sleep, but his lips were twisted slightly at their edges as he grimaced in pain. Edward was clearly feeling his injury even through the haze of dreams that Alphonse could only guess at. 

 "We have to get him to the hospital before he gets any worse, but all three of you have some explaining to do when he is up and moving." Roy looked upwards at the cobwebbed ceiling as he spoke, his mind racing with how the young alchemist could find himself in such a condition, "If you can get past our little Emily here, then get Edward and move him to the car." Al jumped at his command, carefully he moved around the sleeping Emily and scooped up his older brother as if he was a baby before he made his way awkwardly around Roy to exit the room. When they were alone, Roy removed his jacket and laid it over the sleeping girls shoulders gently as a small fatherly smile spread across his lips. He took a moment to take in the smaller details around the room and noted to himself that it was far too masculine to belong to her, no this room had to belong to the uncle she had still yet to see since her parents death. With nothing else seemingly needed of him in that moment, he turned  on his heels and followed the path that the brothers took out of the house.

 His boots clicked against the hardwood of the floor as he made his way through the house towards the front door. He moved slowly as he passed by the bathroom, where an open bottle of pills sitting on the edge of the sink pulled his attention into the mostly dark room, if it had not been for the fact that the hallway light had been left on he wouldn’t have noticed it at all. The bottle was a simple pain medicine, something anyone could easily get from a pharmacy. Nothing he wouldn’t expect, but still something he would need to let the doctors know about before they worked on the blonde. After finding an empty piece of paper and a pen, he quickly jotted down the information from the label on the bottle and replaced the lid to it for Emily. With the paper folded and tucked neatly into his pocket, he made his way once again through the house and to his car waiting outside. As he closed the front door, his brows furrowed with worry and fear for the blonde. He could see that Al had attempted to sit him upright in the back seat and was using his own body to hold up Edwards. Alphonse had told him that Emily patched up his brothers side, but he doubted she had the skills required to keep the blonde alive for much longer. Without time to waste, he slid into the driver’s seat of his car and started it, pulling away from her house seconds later and filling the night with the sounds of squealing tires as he pulled away with his foot firmly on the gas pedal.

 

 Emily awoke with a start, dropping the heavy coat from her shoulders and onto the floor with a loud clank of metals on wood. The sound scared her enough to cause her to stop and look down at the now pool of blue wool and shiny metal for a moment before. As the sound of tires died away, she remembered why she was in the old bedroom in the first place. Then turned quickly to find an empty bed, with only a drying blood stain to show where Edward once lay. The few words Alphonse had told her ran through her mind, Envy's name was the loudest thought in her head, she knew that Envy was a Homunculi, and what a Homunculi was thanks to the few books she and Al had read while Edward slept in the Central library.

 Her heart pounded as she searched her house for the short blonde, when each room turned up empty she felt the weight of the world rest upon her shoulders sending her slumping into the ground. The silence of her home mocked her, making it painfully obvious that she was both alone and useless while Edward was out there somewhere and possibly in grave danger.

 "What do I do.." She muttered as she bit onto her thumbnail. Alphonse would be mad if he knew she had lost his big brother, not to mention Colonel Mustang would be furious if the Fullmetal Alchemist suddenly turned up missing. She paced back and forth in front of her phone, wondering if she should call someone, and who that someone should be exactly. There was Roy, who she had momentarily spoke about with Alphonse earlier, but really it was getting late and the colonel was more than likely in bed. She could contact the police, they may think she had something to do with his disappearance though, the blood staining her couch and uncles bed would be more than enough evidence to make them suspicious of her.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 Al stood beside his brother as he lay in the hospital bed. Roy, jacketless, stood nearby talking with Hawkeye in hushed whispers. He knew full well what they were discussing. His lack of thought when he brought his brother to Emily's house, she did not know anything about alchemy and barely seemed to know anything about medical care when she was fixing Edwards side. He wondered vaguely what she was doing now, had she awoke to find them all gone or was she still asleep with her head resting on the old bed that she had him set Edward on. 

 He stood then and stepped away from the hospital bed. Roy raised an eyebrow at him questioningly but he just waved off the look and ran from the room. The hallway was empty of nurses and doctors which made it easy for him to run through without worry. His large metal feet scraped the tile floor and made a horrible sound as he slid to a stop in front of the stairs. He bounded down them four at a time; the urgency to get to Emily grew as he thought over what had happened once again:

 

_  Edward had been ecstatic about some new finding he had from an unmarked Alchemy journal and had been loudly making his way down the street towards their shared apartment. Al had been following behind him with his nose in a book, diligently reading through some notes that had caught his eye. Neither heard the truck until its screeching wheels came to a stop in front of Al. From inside the cab came an odd laughter.  _

_  Then the blinding lights where cut off as Envy and Gluttony emerged from the inside of the truck's cab. Edward had frowned at them and there where words shared between the short alchemist and the two Homunculi. Edward had clapped his hands together and formed his well know spear. Envy was who he went after with it, waving his spears tip so that the Homunculi had to jump back or risk his stomach being torn open with its sharp point. Gluttony had gone after Al, his cold beady eyes glinting in the darkness as he drew closer to him.  _

_  He had been holding the fat little man off when the sound of screeching tires had filled the air once more. Envy had been on top of the hood with a sharp broken end of the spear pointing downward towards Edward. Al remembered thinking that maybe Lust was driving since those three seemed to always be together, then as he watched the pole slid into Edward's side like it was made of butter. Then the truck wheel was going over Edwards metal arm. The front bumper was slamming into his face and then he disappeared under it. The truck had stopped nearby the now frozen Alphonse and Gluttony jumped inside the bed. Shortly after it was gone, the street was empty of everything but his own metal body and his brothers bloodied mangled one. _

 

 He found himself outside of Emily's door as his memory came to an end. The sound of the trucks tires still played in his mind as he pounded on the door. She opened it after his third knock, her eyes were hollow and fresh tears still clung to her cheeks. She looked as if she had seen a ghost as those eyes landed on his metal face.

 "Al." She gasped as her hand snapped up to cover her mouth. She closed her eyes and leaned on the door, allowing it to open fully to give him room to come in," I'm so sorry Al, he, he's gone." Another set of large tears rolled down her cheeks. He pulled her into the house and sat her on the couch which groaned with her weight. After shutting the door he turned to her once again. She must’ve been up and worrying over his brother for a long while, the thought that he should’ve left a note explaining what happened to Edward filled his mind as he attempted to calm her down. Her hollow eyes were surrounded by dark bags of stress and her cheeks were pale and washed out, a sign of fear coursing through her and causing her to become sick.

 "Shh," he cooed as he petted her head as gently as he possibly could," its okay Emily, Edward is fine, Roy came and we took him to the Command hospital. He's okay. You did a good job." She turned to him then, wiping her wet face with her sleeve as she did so. Silver obs that were once dark with the thoughts taking over her mind locked onto him as their color began to fade back into the light hues she was known for.

 "He… he's okay." She said softly. Al nodded with a soft pat on her shoulder. She smiled softly at this and laid her head back against the couch cushions. It looked like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders as her body slumped into the upholstery. He wondered vaguely just how long she had been stressing about Edward's disappearance alone in her home. Alphonse stood, holding his hand out to her without saying anything. She looked up at him then, looking confused and a bit worried as her sunken eyes gazed up at his metal face. If he had lips he would have given her a reassuring smile, but since he was lacking in any sort of facial feature beyond his glowing eyes he decided to reassure her vocally.

 "Come on, we will go see him." He shrugged as he rubbed his helmet. She reached up to grasp his hand, using it to pull herself into a standing position. She wiped her face once again on her sleeves and nodded. Silently, they made their way out of her house and down the long stretch of sidewalk leading towards the hospital. Both had a lot on their minds as they moved through the darkness. Neither of them wished to voice their thoughts however, choosing to keep them to themselves rather than break the small bubble of calm that had settled over them during the nighttime walk.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 Edward was awake when they walked into the hospital room. His bright gold eyes lingered on Emily for a moment too long, making her look away as her cheeks began to warm as she wondered why he was staring at her so intently. She had remembered to grab Roy's coat before they left and used that as an excuse not to look at the blonde in the hospital bed. As she passed the thick pile of blue fabric over to Roy, she smiled politely and thanked the older man for covering her when he did not have a need to. With that done  she moved on to speak to Hawkeye in a shushed voice. Mainly she asked how he was doing and if the doctors found anything wrong with her hasty first aid. Riza was very open on his condition and even complimented her first aid with a warm smile that made her feel better about the entire situation that they had found themselves in. She hadn’t made his condition worse, and even managed to help him stay alive until the real professionals could get to work on him.

 She thought back to the dream that she had before the terrifying moments of her looking for 

Edward to no avail. In the dream she was adorned in a coat much like her mothers and fathers clinic attire, and holding a bright red clipboard in her hands that was covered in alchemical circles. Her movements in the dream were fluid and sure as she worked on a patient, using alchemy to heal them of their ailments. She felt right in the dream, which made her waking up to an empty and bloodstained bed all the more troubling to her.

 Alphonse, for his part, went directly to his brother's side and sat in the rolling stool that was the only chair around that could hold his massive body. He grabbed his brother's hand and squeezed ever so slightly to get the blondes attention, which was still focused on the brown haired silver eyed girl standing awkwardly in front of the two officials. When Edward turned towards his brother his eyes were distant, and it took him a moment of blinking to focus on the metal face before him. When he did he gave his brother a half hearted smile and lifted his hand from the gloved grasp to rub his neck slowly.

 "How are you feeling?" Al asked in as much of a cooing voice as he could manage. Edward waved away his question with his good left arm and then hung that arm over his eyes. Alphonse was trying to be comforting, but it was coming off as an embarrassing moment for the blonde, especially with three others standing near the door to his room.

 "Winry is going to murder Me." he groaned as he moved his arm to look down upon his crushed automail one, it was as good of a distraction as he could ask for in the moment and he decided that the subject of their conversation would be better if it avoiced what happened at the brunettes home. Al nodded as solemnly as he could, the blonde automail mechanic would slaughter Ed and then fix his arm as she always did. Edward was a bit frightened of the skinny blonde girl who he only saw when he had to.

 She was their childhood friend but his poor short older brother saw her as a torturer, mainly due to the numerous times he destroyed the automail she made him, many times beyond all hope of fixing. He glanced behind Edward to see Emily, now standing awkwardly in the doorway, waving goodbye to Roy and Hawkeye as they make their way down the hallway towards the exit. She turned and her bright silver eyes met Al's glowing ones, the glairing hospital lighting shone against the faint tears lining her eyes as she turned them towards the floor. She looked sad and worried and uncomfortable all at the same time, and shifted from foot to foot as her hands remained clasped before her waist.

 "What's wrong with you? Geez you saved my skin and you act like you're the one who attacked me." They both jumped at Edward's voice. The blonde alchemist played off being annoyed at her actions well, and was currently looking away from both of them and out the window beside his bed. Emily opened her mouth to speak but closed it without uttering a word. What she wanted to say was not something that her metallic friend needed to hear, In fact she did not want anyone but the short blonde to hear the words that where playing through her mind. Her dream had given her an idea, but she needed more help than the journals her parents left behind could offer her.

 "I think I will go call Winry, may as well get it over with right?" Al stood as he spoke. She jumped wondering if he could hear her thoughts. Her eyes widened as he drew closer to her, but he simply walked past her and closed the door, leaving her alone with Edward and the ticking of the medical monitor he was hooked to. She watched the numbers on the monitor shift back and forth as they judged his heartbeat and took in a shaky breath as she thought how he wouldn’t even have one if she had not patched him up as she had.

 "You can stop looking so nervous now." He muttered after the door clicked closed. She moved to take the empty stool that Alphonse had occupied not long before. Awkwardly she placed her hands in her lap, not knowing what else to do with them. Her eyes locked on her interlocked fingers instead of his face, which was turned towards her expectantly. She searched for the right words to say, but when none came to her she found herself blurting out the thoughts that were filling the forefront of her mind.

 "I… I could, I could have killed you, I… I had no idea what i was doing." she bit her bottom lip after the words tumbled out. The memory of how scared she was as she patched him up came back to her causing her hands tremble. She felt so small in that moment, so small and helpless, but if she could just bring herself to ask him what she wanted to ask if then perhaps she wouldn’t be anymore. She just had to find the way, and the strength, to ask him.

 "But, you didn't." His voice caused her to look up, pulling her out of her internal struggle and causing her head to tilt slightly as her eye’s settled on him. He was smiling and lifting the blanket to show off his freshly wrapped side," You kept me alive long enough to get here. Your dad would have been proud of you." She found herself smiling at his words. Edward was crass, but sweet in a way that she had never seen anyone be before. His smile was infectious, pulling a smile to her own lips with the sheer brightness of it.

 "Well, if you weren't as tough skinned as you are it could have been worse." She attempted a joke that she saw as feeble at best. He chuckled and pulled himself into a sort of half sitting position so that his eyes were level with hers. She looked down, thinking once again of what she wanted to ask him, before looking back up again shortly after, "Edward?" she asked softly.

 "Yeah?" he asked as he settled into his large stack of pillows once again.

 "You're a good alchemist and all, well better than good but I... I was just wondering if you might find the time to maybe, teach me?" she stumbled over the words as she asked the question; her eyes found her hands once again. Her memory of her father performing alchemy on patients at his clinic came it her mind. He was a doctor and an alchemist and a kind hearted man. She wanted to be like him and her mother instead of a scared little girl when faced with something like she was faced with recently. Edward was her wake up call; she couldn't just slide by on her uncle's salary without doing anything with her life. She had to stand up for something; she had to do something, anything to keep the memory of her dear parents alive. More than that, she needed something that she could do, something only she could do that would leave her small mark on the world as a whole.

 "Are you sure you want to learn?" He asked in a dead serious tone. She nodded, still too far in her thoughts to speak to him. Al opened the door to see the two looking at each other from across the short distance that separated them. He made a coughing sound causing Emily to jump in surprise, and turn in the stool to face him. She smiled brightly at the sight of her armored friend and stood to make her way over to him, patting his metal arm with her right hand.

 "I think I better go home, you and Edward need time alone." She said softly. Al nodded watching the early morning light that seeped through the window play across her face. She stepped past him after a moment and disappeared down the hallway. The soft pitter patter of her footsteps echoed as she made her way to the stairs and downward.

 

* * *

 

 

 Emily lay across her bed hours later, watching the sunlight dance across the ceiling of her small room. Alchemy did interest her as it had since she was a child, but now it was something more. Alchemy could be a way to bring her closer to her parents. She sat up in her bed, looking down at the green journal on her nightstand. 

 Her father's handwriting awaited her between the worn pages. She touched its smooth worn surface and allowed a small smile to grace her lips as a tear slid down her cheek. Memories of her father playing around with her in his office, showing her how to make the perfect transmutation circle as her mother looked on from the doorway filled her mind. The circle her father had showed her was one to make a wooden doll. Just a simple wooden doll that he could recreate hundreds of time, could and did as she would often break them when she played. Back then she was not exactly careful with the precious gifts that he bestowed upon her, but he never seemed upset about it and would often make her another with a warm smile on his face as she watched in curiosity.

 She looked down at her hand and wondered if she could do that simple circle without her father's help, wondered if she could even perform alchemy at all. These thoughts led her to finding a piece of chalk and to draw a circle in the floor of her bedroom. She filled it in with everything she could remember from the one her father constantly showed her, the symbols and swirling letters that she could not understand but could still see in her mind. Finally after a long thirty minutes the circle looked complete to her. She let out a long breath and placed her hands on the outer part of the circle, opening herself up for the energies to flow through her body as her father had told her to. The waiting was what worried her, when her father performed alchemy it seemed to happen as soon as his fingers touched the edges of the circle, but she sat in near darkness waiting. Just waiting for something to happen and trying to mentally force it to work. When she was about to give up completely a bright flash of silver light filled the room for a moment before dimming down and making the small space seem darker than before. She had squeezed her eyes shut against the glare but now forced one open to look down nervously at what was between her open hands.

 The thing was gruesome, a mass of charred bent wood that did not form any shape she had ever seen before. What she thought where the arms were sticking up from its disfigured head and then bending down to meld with its body. She could not determine which of the strange smoking lumps were supposed to be the things legs, and the head, the head itself was a lumpy thing covered in strange squared off markings that held a half melted looking area that could have been its face. She batted it away in disgust and pulled her knees up to her chest as she leaned back against the frame of her bed. Something was wrong with her circle, or maybe it was herself that something was wrong with. 

 She thought of how easily her father had performed his alchemical miracles when she was little. He had told her, when she was young, that the science of alchemy ran in her blood. She wondered now if he could have been wrong about that all together, obviously she couldn't even make a simple doll. The phone rang, cutting off her train of thought with its insistent droning tone. She pulled herself from the cold floor and made her way through the house to the front room and picked up the phone, placing its cold receiver to her ear as she attempted to shake the dark feelings filling her away.

 "Hello." She said softly, almost scared to raise her voice, but for reasons she could not discern.

 "Emily! It's your Uncle Al, I'm getting some leave time so I'm coming home!" A smile crossed her face at her uncle's enthusiasm. She leaned against the table beside the long couch and chuckled. The dark feeling forgotten from the moment he started speaking.

 "Sounds great uncle, when should I expect you?" she asked, already bubbly with the excitement of seeing him once again.

 "Tomorrow." was his happy reply. She found herself talking to him for about an hour more over nothing at all. When she finally hung up on him with a promise to cook him a home cooked meal when he came home it was already midday and the hot sun beat down on her from the front windows. She found her best boots and set out on a walk to the park nearby the hospital. It was a nice day and she could be close in case Al needed her for anything. The disfigured mass of charred wood under her bedside table was all but forgotten as she walked off into the bright sunny day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not sure how long this work will be at this point, some chapters I can simply edit and add a few scenes to before posting but others I have to combine to make the story as a whole flow better. This was the combination of two chapters and I hope I did well in editing them together. Please let me know what you think my dear readers. Until I am done with it, this will be the only story I work on. So if you enjoy it just keep your eye out for more chapters in the near future. The original had 25 chapters and 15 chapters of a sequel, but I want to combine them now so you my dear readers aren't left on a cliff hanger and searching for the next story. Until next time.
> 
> Much Love;  
> Ad


	5. Chapter 5, Uncle Albert;

 Emily sat at the train station with a small silver bag clasped in her hands. Her uncle had a love for watches so as a welcome home gift she had purchased him one with his initials engraved on the back. The saleswoman had let her know that it was a specialty item that was in short supply, a perfect gift for a watch collector like Albert.

 It had been a long time since she had seen one of her family members, and although she still missed her parents dearly she thought it was nice to see her dear uncle again. He had been away for so long that she found herself wondering if he even looked the same as she remembered at all. Imagining him with grey in his hair caused a small smile to grace her lips as her fingers twisted around the string on the bag and the time slowly ticked by. She looked up at her two companions, Edward stood stoic with his automail arm in a sling and his good leg in a cast. White bandages covered his skin in odd patches and the bottom half of his stomach was wrapped tightly like a mummy. Alphonse was as blank as ever, being covered by his large suit of armor. She wondered when he ever took it off and just how tall he was to move so freely in the armor. His voice had always made her think of a young child, but his large form hid his true age from her. How was she supposed to think of him as the younger brother when Edward barely made it up to his armor clad chest?

 "So your uncle is a soldier?" Edward asked as he leaned against the bench where she sat. He did not look at her as he spoke, he hadn't really looked at her since she asked him to be her teacher. She looked down in embarrassment as she thought of her poor attempt at alchemy she had done after asking him, he would have his hands full if he ever started teaching her the science of alchemy. The doll had been her first and only attempt at the art so far and it did not make her too hopeful of her future without a proper mentor.

 "Yeah, he has been away fighting the rebels in the eastern desert." She said softly as she watched yet another train arrive. Her uncles train was delayed, a billboard in the office of the train station stated that it was due to rail malfunctions, so her wait had been extended from about ten minutes to well over two hours. The two brothers had stayed with her through this even though Winry, the over exuberant mechanic, wasn't scheduled to show up until later in the day. She wondered if the girl was really as fearsome as Edward made her out to be, anyone who was willing to repair his automail as many times as they made her out to had to have a good heart after all. Perhaps the blonde alchemist was just overdramatic in his description of his old friend simply to make the overworked mechanic seem worse than she was for the fun of it. Then again that simply didn’t seem like Edward to her. He was much more of an honest straightforward type who would tell someone the truth or refuse to say anything at all.

 She looked up as a train pulled in nearby, a hiss of steam followed by a hot gust of wind that blowed in her face as the engine died down made her wish that she had remained looking at the small silver gift bag in her hands for a few more seconds. She watched with mild interest as the passengers unloaded, many bustling around each other just to get to where they were going, until she saw a tall man in a military uniform step out behind a gaggle of ladies. He had spiky blackish brown hair and bright green eyes that were hidden behind a pair of wire rimmed glasses. He towered over many of the other passengers and easily made room for himself with his broad shoulders. She remembered riding on those shoulders as a little girl. And she also remembered the smile that now took over the man's face. Her own lips couldn’t help but pull into a similar happy grin as he lifted one hand to give her an energetic wave.

 "Uncle Albert!" She exclaimed as she leapt from her seat to run into the man's waiting arms. He wrapped them around her with a hearty laugh and picked her up, easily twisting them both around in a circle right in the middle of the loading area. The people around them were forced to step to the side or risk being hit by her feet as he twirled them about, but Albert didn’t seem to care in the least about them as his full attention was set on Emily.

 "Hey squirt! miss me?" She chuckled at her old nickname and squeezed him tighter. His stubble along his chin scraped her shoulder, tickling her skin like it always use to. Just having him there brought back memory after memory of growing up and playing with him when he was still a private, back before his missions took him far away and her parents took her to his home less and less due to his busy schedule. 

 "Of course i did who wouldn't miss the puppy of the family." She giggled and rubbed his head like he was an actual puppy. She forgot about her companions during her short family reunion, just basking in the fact that she had a family member to reunite with in the first place. She jumped from his arms and held up the silver bag up to him with a broad smile, excitement filling her eyes as she awaited the reaction he would have to her gift. "I got you something uncle Al." She sang happily as he reached for it. He opened the bag and pulled out the white paper that she had used to hide the gift inside and his face lit up like a light had suddenly shined down just on him. Those same eyes landed on her as his puppy dog grin spread even further.

 "You remembered." He said as he pulled the watch from the bag and turned it over in his hands. She smiled as he read the engraved initials and slipped the watch onto his wrist. He stuck the bag into his pocket folded in half and rubbed her head playfully, "Missed you squirt." He smiled as he moved to grab his suitcase. It wasn’t the over exaggerated reaction she had expected, but he did seem happy to receive it and she guessed he was tired after the long trip on the train. She stood waiting on his return, and did not notice Edward behind her until he spoke.

 "So that's your uncle huh?" She jumped and turned to the blonde Alchemist his shoulders had straightened to a nearly straight line on either side of his neck, his chin was pointed forward as his head was held a bit higher than he usually held it, and though the cast made it hard for him to do he seemed to be attempting to stand at attention beside her.

 "Yeah, that's my dad's younger brother." She said with a shrug. Edward nodded, still standing stiffly beside her. She wondered why he was acting so strange, his normally joking personality had become hard and formal. Perhaps it was simply because her uncle was a captain in the army, but he had seemed so relaxed around Colonel Mustang and the others… She shook her head quickly to clear it, perhaps she was just thinking too much about the whole thing.

 "You look a lot like him." She smiled up at Alphonse who had seemed to sense her unease, and came to her aid. She relaxed at his presence and allowed her arms to cross loosely before herself as she watched her uncle looking through the compartment under the train.

 "Yeah I took after my dad a lot and they look alike." She chuckled uneasily and smiled as her uncle turned and began to walk towards them with a suitcase in each hand. The awkward air the Ed had caused all ceased when her uncles playful air mingled with their own. She introduced the boys to him and he joked with Alphonse about being the "new star" around. He offered to take the boys with them to lunch, which Edward respectfully denied. Thus, she soon found herself watching as the brothers walked away, leaving them standing in the middle of the train station. Albert took her by the shoulder and led her out and towards a line of yellow taxis waiting to pick up fares.

 "Nice boys." He stated as they settled into the backseat of the cab. She shrugged, not really sure how she should respond, she didn't want her dear uncle to think that something was going on that wasn't. Already the stares she had received just by walking into the train station with the two made her skin crawl with the thought that they were whispering about her.

 "They are good friends of mine I met when I moved here." She said as she turned to look out of the window. The cab had pulled away from the curb and they were now passing by buildings a bit too quickly to look closely at any certain one," Edward is hopefully going to teach me alchemy since dad isn't.." She broke off without finishing her sentence, her throat was suddenly tight and she had to blink away tears, which surprised her, her sadness hadn't been this aggressive in weeks, perhaps it was due to the fact that her uncle was now sitting beside her, a living reminder of her father in almost every way. She jumped when his hand found her shoulder and turned to see him smiling sadly down to her. He must have been hurting as well and she was not exactly being polite to him in bringing him up.

 He seemed to want to lighten the mood on their ride to his house, humming softly to himself and drumming his fingers against his knees in a pattern to a song she couldn’t quite pinpoint the tune to. She was simply sitting against the leather seat and listening, chalking up the strange melody to a song he picked up when he was on duty in the east. She pulled her upper body towards the window and away from him as she thought of how different he was now. She hadn’t seen him in years, of course he would be different, but it made her feel removed from him in a way that she had never expected.

 He made a few comments on how well she kept the house up on her own when they went in to place his luggage in his room. She breathed a sigh of relief when he said nothing about the bloodstain on his couch and bed, but other than that their short stop at their home was a pleasant one, that was replaced by an air of awkwardness as soon as they slid into their seats in the back of the waiting cab.

 The ride to Brios diner was a long quiet one. The tension in the car had started the moment they sat down, mainly due to her mind going back to how she almost casually brought up her father. She should have known to stay away from the topic because he shared her pain. He had lost a brother and a sister in law, of course he would be hurting as well. In fact he didn’t even have the closure of their funeral to help him, unlike her who was allowed to grieve in a natural and healthy way. She was almost overly relieved to see the diners sign, it was as if she had traveled through the desert and finally found a source of water. The cab pulled to a stop and she couldn't get out quickly enough. Her uncle stayed inside for a moment, paying the driver no doubt. He seemed to be talking to the large man behind the wheel for a moment, even leaning over the back of the passenger seat to get a better view of the man’s face as he did so. As he did this she was left to stand on the curb and watch as others passed by, some casting her a sideways glance as if they were wondering why a young woman was standing oddly in the middle of the sidewalk.

 "Ahh, i remember this place from when i was a kid." Albert exclaimed as he stepped up beside her to gaze at the diner. She was taken aback by this, she had all but forgotten that her father was born and raised in central, in fact the house her uncle now owned was where they grew up. She looked up at him expecting to see a smile for the old memories but his face was blank and emotionless, "Shall we eat?" He asked when he noticed her looking at him.

 "Y-yeah," she mumbled and followed him into the busy place with her head held down to watch her feet as they walked. They had to wait for a seat but he assured her it was worth it. After about a half hour of waiting they were led to a table towards the back of the diner. He ordered a coffee and a toasted egg sandwich with cheese and ham. She ordered a cup of tea and a bowl of the sup of the day with a grilled cheese sandwich. As they waited for their orders an awkward silence fell between them. He pulled off his glasses and cleaned them slowly as she watched the others around the Diner while playing with a napkin. The dull murmur of the conversations around her filled her ears as she folded the napkin into a swan and then a butterfly. The woman server who brought their drinks commented on her creativity to which she just politely smiled without really looking up at the busy woman’s face. Her tea was steaming in the cup which she held in her hands tightly to warm them. Her uncle just downed his coffee and looked over at her as if he expected her to do the same with her own drink. She took a careful sip of the hot liquid and scalded her tongue right away.

 "owch." she said under her breath as she sucked in air and let it out slowly. He raised an eyebrow and adjusted his glasses on his nose carefully. She scrunched her own nose slightly and took a second sip from the cup. This sip tasted a bit funny and it caused her lips to feel odd. She pulled them in, tightening her mouth and then let them out again. After a third sip her whole mouth felt fuzzy and there was an odd taste in the back of her throat. She looked at her uncle who seemed fuzzy to her, in fact everything seemed to be getting fuzzy around her. Her eyelids became heavy and her head swam. Soon she couldn't hold her eyes open. Her head rested on the table as her world slowly went dark. The last thing that she registered was what seemed to be a dull buzzing in her ears, then everything was apart of the void she had found herself in.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 Ed looked out of the window of Roy's office as Hawkeye went over the list of casualties again. The boring job of filing the papers Roy had actually gotten around to filling out was driving him crazy. Alphonse did not seem to mind but he did have two working arms and no skin to get paper cuts. Hawkeyes droning on made him even more bored, his brain felt like it was melting.

 "I'm so bored." he groaned as he laid his head on the table. Alphonse patted his back gently and nodded his head. They had been in there for hours, Winry had already been sent home after repairing Edwards arm and they had no real social interactions for a few days after that. Emily hadn’t even called to check in on them, but they figured it was because she was busy catching up with her long lost uncle who she had seemed ecstatic about welcoming home from the front.

 "Boys please be quiet, you are the ones who earned this reprimand by running off to the west without telling anyone or filling out a leave form." Hawkeye snapped quickly. She coughed to clear her throat and to the disappointment of an equally bored Roy Mustang, continued with her list," Hackles Tomnas, Hagraven Albert, Hall Wilson.."

 "Wait, did you say Hagraven?" Edward shot up into a straighter sitting position with his eyes locked on the female officer. She looked back over her papers and nodded, oblivious to just how pale Edwards face had become at the mention of the name.

 "Yes, Albert Hagraven death on the battlefield." she stated as she looked up," oh that must have been Emily's uncle, poor dear." She said after a moment of thought.

 "That's impossible." He stated flatly.

 "Are you saying our intelligence office is wrong Edward?" She asked in what could only be described as 'the mom voice'. Usually, on a normal day, that voice would cause Edward to seize up and silence whatever outburst he was about to allow to escape his lips. A normal day would not see the boy going head to head with the female officer, but that day was not normal in the least. He was in a standing position now, his fists clenched at his sides and his teeth bared as he grimaced at his own thoughts. He opened his mouth to blurt them out, but his brother beat him to the punch.

 "He couldn't have died on the battlefield, we just saw him a week ago, Emily met him at the train station." Alphonse said meekly as he held up his hands. Edward thought back to what had bothered him so much at the train station. Albert's eyes seemed too dark and when he smiled it did not quite reach them, plus the fact that he did not seem to carry the same stance as many officers he had seen before. No, Albert was far too relaxed for a man fresh off the field. 

 “The intelligence office goes through many layers of investigation, if Captain Hagraven was still alive then I assure you he would not be among the listed dead.” Hawkeye was a bit firmer as she spoke this time, causing both of the brothers hearts to sink. If that wasn’t Albert that they left her with a week ago then who was it, and why were they playing the part of her uncle?

 Edward moved like a rocket as he bounded out of the room. Leaving Hawkeye and Roy stunned and not slowing down for Alphonse who had followed behind the blonde torpedo. He had to get to Emily before it was too late, the questions of who could possibly want to get to her so badly had his mind going to dark places that he did not want to explore. Could it be the same person, or people, who killed her parents, or was someone attempting to slip into her uncles role that happened to know he was no longer around to bring their falsehood to light? He needed answers, and the first place he felt he should look was her home. He would blow the door to shards as Alphonse had if needed but he had to know for sure that she was safe and get her away from the mysterious stranger playing at being her uncle. 

 He was outside before he even realized it, and running down the long stretch of cement between the yards that lead out to the main road. Alphonse’s voice didn’t even register to him as he ran, his brother’s frantic calls for him to wait so that they could go together just faded into the background as his own dark thoughts shouted in his head. It was his fault. He felt like something was off about that man from the moment he stepped off the train, but assumed everything was fine when Emily seemed so happy to see him. He should have stayed around. They had hours to kill before Winry was due to arrive. He should have went with them instead of fleeing the situation like a scared little child. If anything happened to her he would be the one to blame. No matter what anyone else told him, he would hold the guilt that he felt now for a lifetime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Dear Readers,
> 
> I Just wanted to say that I hope you all enjoyed the story up until this point and I would love to hear from you. Feel free to leave me a comment and I will respond. I want to bond with my readers just as much as you bond with my story so I would be more than happy to read whatever you have to say.
> 
> Much Love;
> 
> Ad


	6. Chapter 6, Hunches:

 The first thing that she remembered was the stench of rotting hay and manure. She could even taste the foul smell of it in the back of her throat as her mind came in to focus. She forced her heavy eyelids to part and was shocked by the bluish black fabric that met her eyes. It was close, so close that she had the urge to close them once again. However she fought back against this and focused on what it was. A line of fabric thick enough that she couldn't see through it was wound tightly around the upper half of her face. It had been tied carelessly at the back of her head, pulling the hair that had been trapped in the knot from her scalp painfully when she attempted to turn her head. She struggled to move her arms, which had been tied behind her at both the wrists and the elbows, to no avail. Her legs were bound by chains that rattled loudly whenever she shifted position to try to rid her left one of its cramping pain.

 "Oh, so you're awake then." She turned her head quickly towards the sound of her uncle's voice. The sound of someone standing from a rolling office chair came from the same place as his voice, "I do apologize for the bindings but you've ran once before so you cannot be trusted now." He chuckled a bit, closer to her ear now, and pulled on the bindings at her arms.

 "I never ran away from you." She squeaked in a scared voice. Another chuckle, a feminine one, came from her other side.

 "Did you hear that Envy? she never ran away from you! How sweet." Lust's voice purred from a few feet away from her. She gritted her teeth at the woman's voice and struggled harder against her bindings, feeling the ropes on her arms cut into her skin as she did so.

 "Why?" a tear slipped out of her eye to be soaked up by the fabric they had used to blindfold her.

 "You already know the answer to that." Her uncle's voice grew farther away as he spoke, and soon after the sound of metal grinding on metal rang out from the distance, "I already have my eyes set on the next one. You two just watch her and don't let her get away again."

 "Yum." The sound was one that she recognized as Gluttony's voice. Cold fear grew in the pit of her stomach as she remembered the dream that had haunted her whenever she succumbed to sleep. She found herself leaning away from the sick slurping sound coming from where his voice had emitted.

 "So boring." It was Lust this time, in her sensual drawl that could cause men to flock to her like bees to a flower. She couldn't focus on their voices, if she did she would lose her mind to fear. She couldn't understand half of what they spoke about anyway, talks of some sort of sacrifice and finding the unawaken alchemists rolled around her ears like waves as the time ticked by. Hours melded into each other as her body grew stiff from being still. The conversations that her captors held fell away until all that was left to her was the foul smell of the place. She dared not think for fear of what her thoughts might plague her with. Her mind fought against her will, causing images of friends and loved ones to flash across her brain; her parents smiling faces were replaced by the last image she held of them, dead atop one another. Another set of tears where absorbed by the ever dampening cloth, the salt of them stung her cheeks as they attempted to absorb them back into her skin.

 It was hours more; she thought that it could have been a day, time was working oddly for her after all with the blindfold blocking out her sight and the room being so deadly quiet that it was impossible to judge. However, when her sense of time came back it was on the curtails of the Homunculi’s voices. The sound of something heavy being dragged into the room was nearly overwritten by Gluttony’s constant slurping, but it did not take long at all for her to discover what the soft scraping like noise was.

 She let out a soft 'umph' sound as another body was thrown into her own. It was removed shortly after and the sounds of chains nearby told her it was being chained up as well. She could smell the metallic scent of blood coming from where the other had been seated and knew that whoever it was had a much worse time than she when they had been taken. A lump formed in her throat as she thought of how lucky she had been to be unharmed, as far as she could tell, during her capture. Whoever was now bound, inches from her side, was as quiet as the grave. She figured that their newest capture was either nearly dead, based off the smell of blood, or passed out from the abuse that they had suffered.

 "So you got him by force?" Lust cooed from nearby her, probably busy tying his arms as hers had been tied. So it was a him that they had beaten bloody enough for the smell to surround him like a miasma.

 "Leave him alone!" she shouted in spite of herself. Shouting was not what she had intended to do, not wanting to draw their attention to herself either.

 "We aren't going to hurt your little friend, yet." He head whipped around towards her uncle's voice.

 "Ed." She found herself softly whispering as fear gripped at her chest. This only brought laughter from around her causing her to lean away from the noise. The thought of being near the ones that held those sinister laughs terrified her and had her blood freezing in her veins.

 "Not yet." An unfamiliar voice called from behind her. Fear caused her body to go stiff, the voice was close to her head. Close enough for her to feel the warm breath on her scalp above the bindings of her blindfold. Her entire body stiffened as she felt whoever was behind her shift and grow even closer.

 "Please just leave us alone. Let us go. We won't tell anyone I swear." She pleaded the strangers voice as she struggled once more against the bindings that where now soaked with the blood of her arms.

 "That will not be on the menu tonight." The voice said before sounds of someone moving behind her echoed into the distance. She though the room she was in must be vast for them to be able to move so far away from her. She was probably chained in the middle of it, along with the boy that she hoped she did not know. The others were still nearby her, she could hear the sick watery sound of Gluttony sucking on his own drool covered finger, and the tapping of Lusts high heel boot against the concrete of the floor.

 "Hungry." Gluttony stated around the digit, causing his voice to sound distorted in the darkness that was her world now.

 "You can't eat them yet." She was surprised to hear this coming from her uncle's voice a few feet in front of her.

 "Where am I?" the voice from the boy beside her was confused and sleepy. She heard his chains rattle as he shifted quickly in his place, "Who are you?!" he demanded loudly causing her to wonder if he could see them. Her lips pulled into a frown as she felt whoever it was shift closer to her.

 "We are no one important to you, or I should say, you are of no importance to us until we gather the others." Lust cooed once again from in front of him.

 She felt her hair being tugged as her blindfold was roughly untied and a harsh brightness struck her eyes. The room was not that brightly lit, in fact it was dim she discovered as her eyes adjusted to the new light. Her head turned to see the beaten and bloody boy beside her. His hair was neatly cut like a few soldiers she had met in Central City and was a bright shade of red. His blue eyes were bloodshot and one was bruised and swollen to where it was only open enough that he could see through it. He was glaring around himself at the Homunculi who stood in random spots around them. His eye softened however when it landed on her own.

 "Jericho?" she asked under her breath as she recognized the boy who she used to play with when their fathers worked together during their childhood.

 "Emily?" he returned her question with a soft surprised voice. This encounter seemed to entertain the ones standing around them as a few of them chuckled lightly. She gritted her teeth in anger as she turned to shoot daggers at the one playing as her uncle.

 "Oh now don't be angry, this is a happy occasion." He said in a sing song voice and patted her head, "Why don't you two get comfortable hmm?"

 "What is Mr. Albert doing here?" Jericho asked as he leaned towards her. She found herself leaning his way as well until her shoulder rested on his own. The warmth of his body seeped into her own this gave her a momentary sense of relief before he was yanked away from her by Lust, causing her to fall harshly to the ground.

 "No touching love birds, you sicken me." She stated as she glared down at the both of them. She saw him glare back at her as his face flushed with red. She could feel the painful throb growing where her head had hit the floor as she lay there, so close to her dear old friend and yet helpless to aid him. She could not even sit up due to how her arms where bound behind her.

 "You are the ones who sicken me. Even dragging Emily's uncle into it. What are you after? My father's studies? They're gone. He got rid of them for good after I left home." He growled low as he spoke those words, she could see his hands squirming as he attempted to free himself of the binds. She wanted to reach out to him, to soothe his anger as she had when they were children, but the binds had cut and rubbed her arms so raw that she couldn't move them without the pain shooting through them up to her shoulders, leaving her feeling weak and useless as she watched him confront the large breasted woman before him. She watched as lust lifted her arm and slapped him across his cheek causing him to jerk to one side by the force of it.

 "You need to learn respect." She stated in a cold voice. He moved his jaw around for a second before spitting the accumulated blood and spit at her feet. Emily could feel the room grow colder as a dead silence fell over them. His eyes were hard and Lust’s eyes were harder as they stared each other down, each having a warning dancing behind their eyes. Emily knew that Jericho was not one to back down from someone who was threatening him, but she felt in her gut that he was making a mistake when he finally broke the silence that, thinking back, she was sure lasted barely a few seconds.

 "You need to learn respect not me you slut." He shouted as he glared up at her face. Emily’s heart dropped at the sound. She could tell that he had pressed a nerve in Lust when the woman’s face turned into a dark scowl and her violet eyes darkened to nearly black.

 "You little shit!" her fingers elongated and one sharp tip of them slammed into his stomach, not at any vital points but in a place where it was the most painful without dealing a mortal wound. He cried out causing Emily to push herself towards him, ignoring the pain in her arms and now in her legs as the chained cuffs bit into her. He fell and landed on top of her side, his blood pooling out and staining her shirt as he did so. She bit her lip hard in order to stop herself from crying out in pain as well as he lay there softly whimpering and attempting to stop his own grunts of pain.

 "Don't let them get you worked up Lust, Envy would kill to have a go before you kill them." Another one that was hidden in the shadows stated dryly The sound of the voice sent waves of fear running down Emily’s spine. Whoever was speaking had  just as she raised her hand, elongated fingers sharpened and prepared to strike once again with a sickening light dancing in her eyes. Emily knew that if whoever it was had not spoken up they would have been as good as dead. She managed to twist her body around to get a better view of the room just as Lust turned her back to them and made a show of allowing her fingers to shrink back into a normal human size rather than the fear inducing spear like length they had been seconds before. The voice was what sent waves of fear rolling down Emily’s spine. It was cold and flat, emotionless. Whoever was speaking did not truly care if Lust killed them or not, no they simply stopped her due to some plan that would be ruined if they died too soon.

 "Envy would kill for anything." Lust huffed and stomped away quickly, "I am going to scout for the others, these two worms aren't worth my time." With that she was gone, slamming the large metal door after she left. Silence fell over the room again after the echoes of the door slamming faded away into nothing. The silence was thick and suffocating, she could feel it settling into her bones as the dread of their situation made its home in her gut. There was no hint as to what their captors truly wanted to do to the two of them, if they wanted them dead then they could have killed both of them ten times over by now. 

 Emily found herself thinking about the brothers, so far away from her now, and hoping beyond hope that they were okay. She knew that they had at least toyed with the idea of capturing the Elrics, if not outright murdering them. She had never thought before about religion, her parents had raised her in such a way that it did not seem to be an important factor in one’s life. However, in that dim circular room, she found herself praying that the ones she had come to think of as close friends would be alright, hoping beyond hope that somehow someway a higher power would hear her and make her prayers reality.

 There was nothing she could do rather than silently plead for the safety of her friends and others that she had never even met. Sitting there, or rather laying there with Jericho bleeding on top of her, she could do nothing helpful for anyone, not even her fellow captor. She was utterly and completely helpless, the thought caused her to feel like nothing she had done up to that point mattered at all. Her entire life was but a series of events she had no real control of that lead her up to this point.

 

* * *

 

 

 Roy Mustang considered himself a well-mannered man, but what the blonde boy before him had declared only a few days ago had his nerves twitching with emotions that a father would feel if his child had vanished. That is just what the girl, who had been their subject of conversation, had done. They had searched her home and come up empty. She had not returned after the boys had left her at the train station and the workers at Brios had claimed they had not seen her or her uncle at all the day she vanished. They had barely slept due to the brothers insisting that sleep was pointless until she was found. Now he was having to deal with another disappearance.

 The missing boy was in his late teens, a student to an alchemist in town who insisted he had talent but lacked the ability to create anything with the simplest of circles. He was a redhead with blue eyes and stood close to six feet in height. The old alchemist said he enjoyed visits to the park by himself after long days of studying, and could be found at the library any other time. At this point there was no connection to Emily in his disappearance, however Roy felt in his bones that it was related. It wasn't common for two people to turn go missing so close in time to one another and not end up being captured by the same person, or people, and he knew that cases like this weren't usually left to his office. In fact Emily hagraven's case was officially taken on by the police force in Central City, but he still helped the boys work it with the promise that the police will have the chance to look over any information they had found. So why was he now sitting in Albert Hagraven's living room, listening to the others as they banged around in the room behind him? The answer came in the form of a short and angry blonde who was accompanied by a large suit of armor.

 "Look at this." Alphonse stated as he held out the strange mass of wood he had found under her bedside table, "There was a circle under a throw rug in her room. Apparently she tried to make something a failed." This was something that had not been brought up yet in her investigation. Roy moved from his seat to step up beside Alphonse who willingly passed the strange mass to him. The younger Elric brother stood there shaking as he studied it.

 "She's an Alchemist?" Roy found himself gasping as he turned over the wooden structure that was placed in his hands.

 "She's supposed to be. She asked me to teach her." Edward appeared in the living room doorway with his red clad arms crossed in front of his chest, "I thought she was just caught up in the moment when she asked me so I did not exactly answer her." His head fell forward in shame as he spoke. It was all his fault, if he had chosen to teach her she would have been with them that day, learning how to draw a proper circle instead of running off with a man they did not know. The blonde looked battered, large circles were forming under his eyes and Roy could see they had begun taking on a purplish hue with his lack of sleep. His hair was unkempt to the point that even the antenna he was known for around the office looked frayed and stuck out oddly from his hair. The braid that he had worn proudly since Roy met him was coming undone and held large portions where the hair was matted in odd chunks. The kid needed a good long shower and a rest before the stress got to him any more.

 "I had no idea she wanted to learn alchemy." Al stated as his metal feet scraped a gash in the wood of the floor when he shifted uncomfortably in place. Roy could tell at a glance that during their entire investigation Edward had not thought once about telling his brother what Emily had asked of him. The guilty look on the young alchemist’s face after Alphonse spoke was enough to tell anyone what he was feeling in that moment.

 "It's not your fault Ed." Roy stated softly as he looked over the disheveled young man standing at his left,

"She would have gone with him anyway; she thought he was her uncle." His words fell on deaf ears as the young alchemist turned and stomped back into the kitchen. Roy sighed as he watched the boy go, the blonde seemed ready to blame himself for anything and had latched onto her disappearance with the same ferocity that he had done to his own brothers situation.

 "Poor girl will never catch a break." The two that had remained in the living room jumped a bit and turned to look at the blonde woman at the window. Riza sighed softly and turned to face the foggy glass as she continued to speak, "She lost her parents and now she has been kidnapped. She must be scared, I don't know her well but she seemed like someone at the brink of darkness when I saw her last." Her words lingered in the air as Roy and Alphonse turned their heads to look at one another. It wasn’t like they remembered, back when Edward was still recovering and she visited him. She seemed hopeful and relieved back then.

 "That was at the hospital right?" Alphonse asked as he thought back to taking her to see Ed before he had his automail fixed by their dear childhood friend Winry. Riza and Roy were both there when they walked into the room, he could still remember Emily giving Roy his jacket back.

 "No." she shrugged as she said this flatly, before turning to lock her eyes on the glowing pair in the armor, "I saw her just after that. She was at the library reading a few journals of her father's when I was there returning books for Mustang." She crossed her arms for a moment before letting them fall to her sides when her eyes locked onto Roy.

 "What did you do?" Al asked her as he carefully sat on the floor so he would not break the furniture in the room. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting from the woman, but her response caused his shoulders to slump in defeat. 

 "Nothing, she seemed into what she was reading and as I said I don't know her well. I left after turning in the books."

 "Could you pick out what she was reading if you saw them again?" Roy asked as the thoughts in his mind clicked together, maybe there was a connection to the two in those books. If his hunch was correct then the two of them had to have some connection to each other, one that would lead to their kidnappers taking them for reasons that remained unclear to him.

 "I could," Was her answer.

 "Then I need you to come with me. There may be more to these kidnappings than we know." He ordered, his voice far firmer than Alphonse thought possible in a situation like this.

 "Yes sir." She saluted him as he stood and turned to the sitting mass of metal that was Alphonse.

 "Watch out for your brother okay? I think that he could be in trouble if my hunches are right." He stated in a fatherly tone. It was something that surprised the metal boy, who had witnessed him acting the part of a firm military official seconds before.

 "Yes sir." His voice was a high childlike voice of worry, not at all the way he wanted it to come out. His emotions could still get to him and give him away even without a body to betray him in the first place.

 As the front door closed behind him, Roy wondered if he could save them before it was too late. Someone would generally give a ransom note of some sort, yet none had been given for either of them. Emily had been gone for over a week and he didn’t have to think hard at all to know that meant she had a high possibility of being dead or dying somewhere. Why someone would go through the trouble of playing the part of her uncle still irked him though, who would go through that just to kill the girl?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear Readers,
> 
> I know that this chapter took a while to get out, and honestly I don't have an excuse. Sometimes you just don't feel up to putting your all into something and when I get to feeling that way I don't work on it at all until that feeling goes away. Sorry for the late update, I will try harder in the future and I hope you still enjoyed this chapter.
> 
> Much Love;  
> Ad


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